THE STRANGER, THE SAINT, THE HORN, AND THE WORD
by Kribble the Mighty
Summary: A crusade alone ends in heartbreak. But a shared crusade? Two princesses join a prince and a princess in exile; bonds are built, broken; love is formed, tested; and the power of many is proved superior to that of one. AU. Focuses on six characters: Lelouch, Nunnally, Cornelia, Euphemia, Suzaku, and Milly (last two less than the first four). Rated T for now, may rise to M later.
1. Eyes

Disclaimer: I own no characters presented in this fiction, except one. All characters aside from Ulrike are the property of Sunrise.

"Why have you changed me?"

"_How _have you changed me?"

"What have I become?"

- Napoleon Bonaparte's first words to C.C. when gifted with Geass; excerpt from _The Secret History of Geass_, Cordwainer, 1880, Chessboard Publishers (only extant copy)

THE STRANGER, THE SAINT, THE HORN, AND THE WORD

_Chapter One – Eyes _

_Incipio._

* * *

The last thing Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald remembered was… _fire._ Red light burning through his eyelids, and casting his face into a dangerous glow; the space of his cockpit closing in about him as he felt the suffocating heat of the Radiant Wave Surger choke the air out; and finally, the rushing, consuming, roaring explosion –

He woke up abruptly.

Jeremiah had had a lot of dreams like that lately.

He was home, or what he supposed was his home. A high-tech hole in the ground, filled with Prince Schneizel's lackeys and scientists. It took the prize for being the dullest place he had ever had the displeasure to live in. The furnishings were exceedingly spartan, and overall the place had a feel of a disused bunker. The labs were the exception in the monotonous maze of rooms, being distinctly _un_dull and indeed rather sinister. He couldn't leave, as he was certain that no one but the subjects, the testers, and Schneizel himself were supposed to know about this place.

So, other than having tests performed on him, he didn't have a great deal to do, besides sleep, eat, test out the machines that had been installed to "improve" him (if he could use them at all), and simmer about Zero and Infinity.

These last two managed to engage him fairly well.

He fingered the side of his face. No matter it would defend him from the "power" of Zero, and make him the only possible assassin, the new eye – along with the other implants - felt invasive, foreign, as if he had been fused with a Knightmare. It was not a pleasant thought.

He decided to test out the functionality of the "Geass Canceller" yet again, and keep waiting – impatiently - for the moment when he would be able to put his hatred to rest. He looked into the splotchy mirror, and tried to move his right eyelid.

The blank white eye opened, and revealed a perplexing blue symbol: an upside-down horseshoe, perhaps, or a bird flying upside down? Jeremiah could make nothing of it, but this didn't bother him unduly; he just wanted to make sure it still worked.

Feeling rather ridiculous (this was by far the most embarrassing part), he shouted, "_Geass Canceller!"_ Just like all the other times, a sphere of diffuse blue light exploded out of the eye, and expanded until it covered most of the area surrounding the cave, and then winked out of existence. Yes, it was still fully operational… just as it had been when he checked two hours ago.

_I am going _insane_ in here! _

He didn't like too much time alone.

It let him think.

Think about how he had failed Empress Marianne.

Think about how he had failed her daughter.

Think about how he had failed her son.

Her son.

_Lelouch vi Britannia, if I ever see you again in this life, the debt I owe to you and your sisters demand that I become your servant again. I can never repay what is due to your mother, but, if you still live by some miraculous chance, then I will give you my loyalty, for as long as I can stay alive. _

_But in the meantime, I begin working to serve you by killing those vile terrorists defiling your memory! Surely you cannot disapprove of me eliminating these two – Zero and Infinity!_

* * *

Schneizel el Britannia, Second Prince of Britannia, Chancellor of the Holy Empire of Britannia, looked at the data in disbelief. His face stayed as impassive and suave as ever, but his eyes betrayed his skepticism.

"You managed to _recreate_ the Geass Canceller?"

The head scientist looked confused at this choice of words.

"_Recreate_, Your Highness? We did not _recreate_, we _created_. As far as I am aware, nothing of this type exists. Using the data that was stolen from the Geass Directorate, we managed to engineer a counter-action protocol. It harnesses wave technology and a miniaturized Yggdrasil drive to cancel Geass Effect waves. It, in effect, _resets_ the subject's thought patterns and energy flows to pre-Geass Effect levels. It is a masterpiece of science!"

He beamed at Schneizel, flushed with his team's success.

Schneizel remained blank at this, then, recollecting himself, congratulated his team, and told them they had been a great help. They walked away, muttering delightedly among themselves.

Schneizel returned to his current quarters, sat down on the bed, and began to marshal his thoughts.

He _was_ impressed with his team's results. It was just… he had not expected this.

Because what had been installed into Jeremiah Gottwald was certainly _not _original, even if it was a copy.

It was not even the first time he had seen it in action…

_Audience Chamber, The Imperial Palace, Pendragon, Holy Empire of Britannia. 2010 a.t.b._

_The doors were opened, and a name was announced._

"_Lelouch vi Britannia, Eleventh Prince of Britannia. Here to seek audience with His Royal Majesty, Charles zi Britannia, the Holy Ninety-Eighth Emperor of Britannia."_

_A low murmur filled the room at this. Schneizel, watching from the back, wrinkled his brow in consternation. Why would his little brother want an audience with Father? _

_His question was soon answered for him when Lelouch strode in, looking tortured and furious, and challenged, "Why didn't you protect Mother? How could you let them do that to Nunnally?"_

_Father did not respond immediately, and when he did, his words were filled with contempt._

"_We have no need for the weak. Your mother was weak, and so was your sister. The strong destroyed them. Nothing more needs to be said."_

"_But Mother was your consort! Nunnally is your daughter!"_

_Schneizel was appalled at Lelouch's lack of courtesy. Even when feelings were strong, this was nothing short of suicide. He was about to leave, writing his brother off, when –_

"_Daddy!"_

_A collective gasp rose up from the onlookers as a rose-haired girl ran through the mysteriously opened doors, and stopped beside Lelouch._

_It was the Third Princess, Euphemia. _

_She looked more afraid than Lelouch, but clearly she was determined to confront her father as well._

"_Lelouch is right! Why didn't you save his Mommy?"_

_Schneizel was disgusted that Lelouch would drag Euphemia into this insane scheme. A quick study of his brother's face, however, revealed that he was as surprised as anyone at Euphemia's appearance; he had planned to face his father alone._

_Father's eyes widened; it was clear that he had not expected Euphemia. He was only distracted for a moment, however._

"_Lelouch vi Britannia. We hereby relegate you to Japan, along with your sister, to serve as a message of political goodwill, and an assurance that we mean them no harm."_

_Schneizel winced. He knew his father's plans in that direction._

"_Take him away, and clear the room of all but the Third Princess," the Emperor ordered his guards._

_Schneizel was intrigued enough by the obvious secrecy to put his own skin at risk, and dodged behind a curtain in the back, where he saw his father reveal his purpose._

_Father ordered Euphemia to look him in the eye. Trembling with anger and terror at his harsh words, she complied. _

_What happened next astounded and horrified Schneizel._

_Father took Euphie's chin, and suddenly, in both his eyes, there flashed, in red, a birdlike sigil. He began to murmur instructions to Euphemia._

"_You will forget that your half-siblings ever existed, and you will forget any charitable impulses toward them. You will forget any memory still outstanding of their mother, and forget as well your time in Aries Villa. This is our will."_

"_I understand…" Euphemia said blankly, her lavender irises rimmed with crimson._

_But as Father turned away, the same sigil – inverted, and changed to blue – flashed in Euphemia's left eye, and the red rims around her irises faded away as an expanding sphere of blue light enveloped the palace._

_In surprise, Father turned back to her. _

_He considered for a moment, then asked her: "Who are Lelouch and Nunnally vi Britannia?"_

"_My brother and sister!" she shouted, tears in her eyes._

_Father's eyes widened with shock. _

_He stood stock-still for a full minute, poleaxed._

_Then he seemed to reach a decision._

"_Euphemia li Britannia. You are hereby relegated to the same duty as your brother and sister, to serve as part of the diplomatic envoy in Japan."_

"_NO!"_

_With a jerk, Schneizel was torn out of his fascination with the scene, and saw, with rising disbelief, his sister Cornelia too had hid in the room, and now emerged with rising fury, directed, incredibly, not toward Euphemia, but toward Father._

_Has _everything _gone mad?_

"_I_ _saw it all! If you banish Euphie, you'll have to banish me too!"_

_Father looked very disconcerted. Not surprising, as he would have to lose not two, but four pawns today, and had not foreseen it. Schneizel sniggered, very quietly. _

"_Fine," he said, "join your sister. We have no use for a strong one who only cares about the weak."_

"_Guards. Remove them."_

_The guards almost apologetically carried the two princesses out; Cornelia was shouting incoherently at her father all the while. _

"_Why, Father? Why did you let her die? Why are you banishing us? WHY?!"_

_Why indeed, Schneizel thought._

_If Father heard any of these complaints, he said nothing about them, and the princesses were unceremoniously dumped onto the jet to Japan by the somewhat less apologetic palace guards._

_Eventually Father exited the room, looking remarkably discomposed, leaving Schneizel alone to ponder what he had just seen…_

That had been the point, the breaking point of Schneizel's actual loyalty to his father. The strange power had been exceedingly disconcerting to him, and rather increased his paranoia toward his father. The poor temper control had also bespoken a weakness, one that Schneizel could use. He desired the throne, he knew he could handle it, and he believed his father was no longer the best for it.

These beliefs had led him to the formation of the Schneizel Research Facility, a group dedicated to countering the power, and its front group, the Schneizel El Britannia Foundation for a Better Tomorrow. The power's name, he had found out eventually, after several attempts at industrial espionage on the Directorate, was Geass. But this was the first breakthrough that called to mind what he had seen…

He shook the suppositions from his head, and went to congratulate his scientists on a job well done.

* * *

While Jeremiah tested out his new power, and while Schneizel schemed for the throne, two masked figures watched over a battle…

For now, they shall be called Zero and Infinity.

Elimination of the Shibuya Knightmare warehouse was precisely on schedule.

From within their Command-Type Burais, the two each watched like angels over the battle, jumping on possible problems, and quickly and quietly debating the solutions to the problems facing their small army. These debates lasted no more than a few seconds, with swift conclusions, and more often, one would defer to the other for concern of the time.

A discrepancy in the battle map was noted, and passed to the group in command of that area.

And then, just as the destruction of the Sutherlands was finishing up, Bad News in a White Suit showed up.

"Boss! We got a bogey at North Entrance!" crackled in over Infinity's radio.

"Give me a visual description?"

"It's Lancelot, ma'am! We've already lost – AGGHK!"

The channel had gone dead. Infinity ground her teeth. It could be heard over the radio, even through her black queen's mask.

"Evasive action, all forces within one hundred meters of North Entrance!" she snapped out quickly. After the order was given, she clicked on the private circuit to Zero's Burai.

"Le- I mean, Zero, we've got Lancelot on our backs again."

She heard him curse.

"Send out Kallen, maybe she can stall him enough for us to get out relatively casualty-free…"

Infinity gave the Guren the order to engage Lancelot, while Zero gave an all-frequencies broadcast: "All units, break formation, retreat, and regroup at West Entrance! We will exit from there! Stop what you're doing, and retreat!"

The carefully scheduled raid had turned into a catastrophe. Units scattered like dead leaves before the terrifying aura of that god of Destruction, Lancelot.

Except one.

Before Lancelot reached the Command-Types, a guard all in red intercepted it.

The Guren Mk – II.

Radiant Wave Surger forward, the Guren rushed the Lancelot, forcing it to dodge left, and engage its VARIS rifle to make the Guren back off.

"I've got you now, traitor!" Kallen's voice hissed over the radio.

"Kallen! Evasive action only for now. I am coming to assist," said Infinity wearily; Kallen ignored her, as she had know the girl would.

_Well, at least she's got enough of a sense of self-preservation to not try for a suicide bombing…_

* * *

The Lancelot was letting loose with the VARIS rifle. "Pilot of the Guren: Disengage your Knightmare now, and give yourself into my custody! You are breaking the law of Area Eleven by collaborating with the terrorists known as Zero and Infinity!" ordered the pilot, tersely.

"Ha! You think I'll surrender?" Kallen mocked, dodging around a line of smashed and smoking Sutherlands to get into range with her Radiant Wave Surger. "I'll surrender when Zero and Infinity surrender. And it's not Area Eleven, it's _Japan_! Why do you think we'll swallow that crap?"

"I hope that every day will bring sense to your mind. Obviously, today is not that day. Prepare for destruction."

The Lancelot was ready for the Guren's attack. Not only did Kallen fail to get in to close-combat range to use the Radiant Wave Surger, she was forced onto the defensive by a wide sweep of the Lancelot's dual Maser Vibration Swords. The pilot began to slowly force Kallen back by guarding his immediate area with sword blows, and peppering the area around the Guren with VARIS shots. Eventually Kallen had been backed up against a wall, with a Sutherland on both sides.  
_Oh well. It was a good run, _thought Kallen; eyes squeezed shut, waiting for the incoming blow that would certainly disable and probably destroy her dear Guren.

It didn't come.

Kallen opened one eye, to see both Command-Type Burais engaging the Lancelot at once.

Kallen laughed out loud. She was having a good day.

She revved up her Guren, and engaged the Lancelot again.

* * *

"That was a close one, wasn't it, Infinity?" said Zero idly.

"Very, Zero," Infinity replied agreeably.

The confusion brought on by Kallen's entrance into the melee had allowed first Zero, then Infinity, then Kallen herself to absent themselves from the warehouse, given that the main body of forces had been either rescued or had escaped.

They had accomplished most of their objective – to render a great deal of Sutherlands unusable – and had escaped with minimal casualties.

That was a win in the Black Knights' book; of course, their losses usually occurred only - and with alarming regularity – when the Lancelot appeared.

Zero bit his thumbnail; he needed to figure out who that pilot was, and prepare a trap for him. This raid had been too close for him.

Infinity, apparently having similar thoughts, stated, "We will not get out of a similar situation as relatively unscathed as we were today; the chance of the same level of success, with the same conditions, occurring again is less than one in five. We _have_ to do something about that Lancelot."

"I know, I know. I need to know more about its weaknesses, though. Without knowledge of how it can be attacked, it's difficult for us to even _disable_ it," said Zero, irritated.

"It's okay, I know we'll figure something out. Let's try and work it out at school."

Zero jerked up in his seat. "_Shhh!_ What if someone taps our channel?! We could really be in trouble if anyone overhears something like that!"

"Sheesh. I still don't see why we have to be so secretive on a _private channel_. Our Knightmares have top-line radio security, and why would anyone want to wiretap anyway? They already trust us implicitly, thanks to your grandstanding. _Zero,_" she scoffed back at him.

"It's just extra security, _Infinity_." The heavy emphasis on her name was clearly meant as a riposte, but it failed when Infinity started laughing at him.

"Come on! Stop laughing!" Zero said, annoyed. "I mean it! We need all the security we can get!" She continued laughing at her brother's stupidity.

"If you don't stop laughing, I guarantee that the _entire school _will know about what you do on your Friday afternoons by tomorrow!"

That sobered her up. "Cheater."

"I was always the better blackmailer, sister," he said smugly.

"You're a real jerk, Lelouch."

"Same to you, Cornelia."

_Chapter One – Eyes _

_Consumo._

Author's Note: Many of you may be wondering about the strange title of this fanfiction. It is a result of the (minimal) research I undertook on the main characters' names, which I may explain in greater detail later. Anyway. The main characters, as you have likely deduced by now, are Lelouch (naturally), Nunnally (how could I not?) Cornelia, and Euphemia.

As this is an AU, I have decided to have Cornelia be about five years younger (to lessen the gap between her and her siblings, and, seriously, a sister eleven years older? I think not.), and I decided to make Euphemia's mother the origin of Geass Canceller (more on this in Chapter 2). The purpose of this story is threefold; to give Cornelia and Euphemia a greater role in the story (especially Cornelia, because I feel that not nearly enough was done on her character, and she is painted as an unrepentant killer in the anime), to explore the relationships of characters that would have developed had Cornelia and Euphemia been banished as well (on this, Charles' reasons are not OOC; I will explain them if enough people want me to, but I think I probably will have to work that into the story anyway.), and to see what Code Geass would have been like if Lelouch was not alone in his crusade. This last is likely the most important to me, and the aspect that I think he deserves. Who knows what would have been, if one of those one-in-a-million chances made him stronger instead of slowly destroying him? We shall see…

Also, a warning for those who dislike incestuous pairings: **This story will have them.** **Stop reading NOW if you're going to complain.** **Lime and possibly lemon could happen as well**, but I am not sure how well I can write those, so that will be up in the air until later on. I may explain the title in a later chapter, as I feel I have too many words in this note already. Thank you for reading; and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.


	2. Origins

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters presented in this fiction, except one. All characters aside from Ulrike are the property of Sunrise.

"Even legends must start somewhere."

– Nagisa Chiba, on Kyoshiro Tōdō's early years in the Japanese military

THE STRANGER, THE SAINT, THE HORN, AND THE WORD

_Chapter 2 – Origins_

_Incipio._

* * *

_Some weeks before the Shibuya Warehouse raid._

Euphemia li Britannia was sitting at the dinner table, very annoyed at her elder siblings.

_They both went out again! And they didn't even tell _me_!_ she thought, irate.

This had become an occupational hazard with her two siblings. Lelouch claimed friends kept dragging him out, and Cornelia gave vague pretensions toward dates.

Euphie knew that was a lie, because she knew Cornelia had _never_ been on a date. Whenever anyone asked her out among her colleagues (which certainly was not seldom), she would freeze up, and then grow flustered, giving a long string of nearly incoherent excuses as to why she could not. Euphie had had to rescue her several times from such social sinkholes, and she felt that she deserved, if the truth was not possible, at _least_ a better lie.

They undoubtedly expected her to be asleep when they returned. Well, she would give them a surprise to pay them back for lying – and being so _bad _at it.

Euphie was a skilled liar. She only lied when it would have been excruciatingly awkward to tell the truth, but these occasions came up so often in the context of her hapless siblings' stunted love lives that she had been forced to get very good at it, very quickly.

_Not that I have much to boast about in my love life,_ she thought wryly. She _had _been on dates, unlike her socially inept sister, but they had been about as exciting as watching paint dry on an accounting firm full of military history fans. Her dates had been either patting themselves on the back for scoring such a hot date or completely frozen up when confronted with the immediate task of talking to her. She had been as polite as possible, and had let them down as easily as she could, but she had had no repeat dates, because even though she hated disappointing people, she couldn't stand another date like that.

_I wish I _could _date someone I liked, though, _she thought wistfully, and immediately, a face occurred to her.

_I'd like to date _him.

Too bad she had no idea where he was, or what he was doing.

She sighed.

_When are they getting home? I'm tired…_

* * *

Nunnally vi Britannia was not sleeping either.

She had too much to think about.

It had now been seven years since their "relegation" to Japan. Nunnally could not pretend that she did not like this way of life better than the pampered, venom-filled life in Pendragon. She had real friends now; friends that liked her because she was Nunnally, and not just because she was Princess Nunnally. She had Milly, she had Shirley, she had Nina, she had Rivalz (even if she sometimes wished she didn't), she had Mr. Ashford, and most of all, forever and always, she had Cornelia, Euphemia, and Onii-sama.

But she didn't have them all the time, and that worried her.

Nii-sama might not think she noticed, but she saw that he and sister Cornelia were gone an awful lot. Their flimsy excuses had fooled her no more than they fooled sister Euphemia.

_What are they doing that they can't tell me about? They swore, they swore never to lie to me! To me and to sister Euphie!_

She decided that she needed help in determining what her Nii-sama and Nee-sama did. And she knew someone who would be willing.

Nunnally smiled, and if you had stood at the window, you would have sworn the room got brighter.

* * *

"Sister Euphie. Would you mind waking up?"

The question exercised more force on Euphie than an alarm clock would have. Nunnally had that effect on people.

"Ngk? Hmma! Wh-what is it, Nunnally? What do you need? Where does it hurt?"

Nunnally smiled again. Only Euphie could resist this smile to any degree, being nearly as charming herself. It still had its intended effect; Euphie woke up a little more.

"Don't be silly, sister Euphie! I'm all right. I got down here by myself, didn't I?"

"Y-yes, that's true," stuttered Euphemia, still trying to shake off a yawn.

"Anyway, would you mind helping me with something?" said Nunnally diffidently.

"Certainly, Nunnally. What d'you need?" Euphemia's tongue stumbled over the sentence; she needed coffee.

Wait. It was the middle of the night. What had she, Euphemia, been doing up at midnight?

Ah, yes.

"Does it have anything to do with Lelouch and Nee-sama?" Euphemia asked shrewdly.

"Why, yes, sister. You anticipate me?" said Nunnally, mock-formally.

Euphemia giggled. "Indeed."

"They're hiding something from us," said Nunnally, her voice becoming more determined. "And we're going to find out what it is."

"Sometimes you make me glad you're not my enemy, sister; no matter that you can't see or walk, I'm sure you'd destroy me with your own subtle methods."

"Oh, I would never do that… unless you got in my way."

Both of them laughed in the way only sleep-deprived people can, uproariously and far too long.

"Okay, sister Euphie, here's what I think we should do…"

After they worked out the details of their plan, they had enough stamina left to hear the front door slam, and two quiet sets of footsteps enter the kitchenette. Whispers greeted the two younger siblings' ears, and they tensed in excited conspiracy. She turned off the light, picked up Nunnally, and hid in a dark corner. As the pair of truants crossed the kitchenette to the dining room, Euphemia counted down under her breath to Nunnally: "Three… two… one…"

And as Lelouch entered the dining room both girls gleefully yelled, "ZERO!"

Lelouch turned white as a sheet and flinched; Nee-sama behind him clearly suppressed a swear word. Both girls were intrigued by this measure of jumpiness in Lelouch; he was usually more composed than this. But continue they must.

With Nunnally in her arms, she stood up, and cleared her throat very loudly. Nunnally did as well, so there was a veritable ocean of judgment emanating from the two girls.

"And _what_," said Euphemia in a dangerously sweet tone, "were we doing at – let's see – a quarter past twelve in the morning? Hmm? Any takers?"

Nee-sama and Lelouch looked like deer caught in headlights. Euphemia exulted on getting one-up over her sisters composure; she didn't get the chance very often. Nunnally was no doubt equally pleased, if she showed it less. "Nii-sama and Nee-sama, we think it's time you told us what you've been doing. We're all in this together, after all, and I don't think you've been being very honest with us. Remember your promise?" Euphemia sat in amazement of Nunnally's incredible force of will; she would make those two crack in no time at all.

It was like a guilt avalanche for Lelouch and Nee-sama; they both looked down in shame and hurt. This made Euphemia regret being so harsh to them; she hated intentionally hurting her brother or her sisters, but, in this case, she felt she needed to know. She firmed her resolve, and asked seriously, "Lelouch, Nee-sama, what are you doing? We're worried about you. Nunnally's right, it's not fair to keep secrets between yourselves when we are in this together."

Nee-sama looked agonized, tortured; but Lelouch, who had recovered his composure, smiled disarmingly and said, in a voice warm with affection and misdirection, "It's okay, don't worry about it, Euphie. A friend of mine was having some problems with a gang. Cornelia and I went and – took care – of them. Everything's all right now, so you can put your fears to rest."

This made sense, and it was more than likely – if the friend was Rivalz, who it probably was. Gangs were common anywhere Rivalz went; he was just unlucky like that. It would be natural for Lelouch to help his friend – he gambled with his help often – and Nee-sama, as a teacher at the school, would be inclined to aid one of her students, as she had a rather protective mentality toward those younger than herself – _which made her ease up on me,_ thought Euphie, remembering how fiercely Nee-sama had protected her in Pendragon.

_So why don't I believe Lelouch's story?_

She said, hesitantly, "Well… alright then… if that's all…"

"It is, sister. Don't worry, everything is fine." Nee-sama had recovered her composure as well, and her voice was sweet as syrup.

_Nee-sama only uses that voice when there's something she doesn't want me to know._

Nee-sama and Lelouch headed to bed, bickering over some point of military history, which made Euphie tone out everything immediately. She hated Nee-sama's subject with a passion.

…_And that's another way to ensure I won't accidentally overhear their conversation. Hmmm. Am I being too paranoid?_

No. Nee-sama's voice, Lelouch's jumpiness… "Something is rotten in the state of Norway," muttered Euphemia, quoting one of her favorite plays.

"What, sister Euphie?" said Nunnally.

"There's something going on with Nee-sama and Lelouch," said Euphie. "And we're going to find out what it is."

Nunnally smiled again.

_I was right when I said she would be a dangerous opponent… she could knock you out with her smile alone!_

Still punch-drunk (smile-drunk?), Euphemia carried Nunnally to bed, and wheeled her chair back to Nunnally's room, before going to her and Cornelia's room, and hearing Nee-sama murmur a sleep-smeared "G'night," before she dropped off herself.

Her last thought before the Lord of Dreams claimed her:

_What should I do, Suzaku?_

Surprise would come soon...

* * *

Nunnally slowly woke up, savoring her last moments in bed. She didn't feel nearly so left out when she slept; after all, everyone else was just as blind and motionless as her in bed. In other words, she wasn't missing out on anything. Not that she felt so _very _left out when she was awake, but when she slept, she was equal to everyone. Not someone to pity. Not someone to protect.

Of course, this was beside the point. She felt around for her bedside table, and found the raised-face alarm clock that Nii-sama had bought for her. According to the clock, there was still about an hour before her alarm rang.

So what had woken her up?

She listened intently, and could hear sounds of a stifled argument coming from Lelouch's bedroom. Her bed was near the wall, so she shifted nearer to knock, and did so, saying, "Onii-sama? Is everything all right?"

The voices paused in charged contemplation of their sharp-eared neighbor, and then Lelouch's voice floated through, muffled and cheerful: "Nothing's the matter, Nunnally! I was just being scolded by Cornelia for my slovenly habits; apparently, I need to clean up my room."

"I am _not _scolding – mph!" came Cornelia's voice, cut off suddenly, as if someone had pressed a pillow into her face.

The voices dropped too low for Nunnally hear any more, but she had heard quite enough.

_I think I must tell sister Euphie about this. She will likely find it… interesting._

* * *

"Now, let me get this straight… you are only not dead because of some mysterious glowing eye power, which was given to you by a green-haired girl – _the one currently in this room eating pizza off MY credit card_– and our little rebellion _only exists because of said power?_" said Cornelia.

"Yes, that about covers it, I think," Lelouch responded uncomfortably. "Although, I had rather thought her to be dead… usually a bullet to the head has more effect than simply a delayed reappearance." He cast a glower at the girl, half-wishing he could shoot her again. Really, this was _most_ vexing.

He and Cornelia had arrived home last night, and had gone to bed without suspecting anything, although they had been rather caught out by Nunnally and Euphemia. _We _definitely_ need to start planning these missions at different times…_

When he had climbed _into _bed, however, he had found it already occupied. By the girl, who had regarded him rather indifferently when he had scrambled out, embarrassed and trying to muffle his curses. She had introduced herself as "C.C.", and told him that he was her new contractor. "Hope you last longer than the rest of them did," she had yawned, and promptly fell asleep again.

Now she sat demurely at the small table in Lelouch's room, gradually eating her way through a large pizza. She seemed to have no regard for other foods; other options had been rejected when offered. She _would _have pizza. Her enigmatic nature was getting on Lelouch's nerves already; additionally, Cornelia was annoyed and displeased at this odd turn of events. An annoyed Cornelia was not a fun person to be around; she tended to begin taking out her considerable temper on the nearest target.

Who was, in this case, Lelouch.

"_What were you thinking, _not telling me about something this important? That was a supremely stupid move, brother. I mean, _we are fighting an underground rebellion here_, and you decide to just not enlighten me as to how we got our hands in in the first place? What an _idiot!_" she fumed.

"I'm _sorry, _sister. It won't happen again."

This mollified her a little, and she relented, with a tailing mumble of "When _I _was your age…"

"You were seventeen?"

"Smartass."

"This is all very amusing," said C.C., wiping her mouth with a napkin, and reaching for the next pizza, "but I don't believe that Lelouch has, in fact, demonstrated said "glowing eye power". Don't you want a demonstration?"

Cornelia blinked. It had slipped her mind. "Yes, of course."

"Well, then, Lelouch," said C.C., in a supercilious tone. "Show your Nee-sama what you can do."

_I'm going to end up strangling this witch within a week! No matter that she can't die, I'LL FIND A WAY!_

Lelouch sighed, putting such happy thoughts from his head. "Cornelia, I'll have to perform it on you, if you want a private demonstration. Unless, of course, you are not averse to going outside…?"

"I am, Lelouch," said Cornelia, sternly. "It's not a good idea to flaunt it. I don't see any reason you can't just use it on me. Or the girl, for that matter."

"Excuse me, I feel I must interject at this point," said C.C. "The Absolute Obedience Geass only works once on a person, no exceptions. Also, I am immune to it; therefore, I cannot be used as a lab rat."

_Would that I could…_ thought Lelouch blackly. Something about the girl just – grated - on him.

"All right, sister, look me in the eye, and keep looking."

Cornelia did so, not without a certain degree of apprehension.

A symbol flashed into Lelouch's left eye, and in a moment, a memory of Cornelia's triggered –

_Watching from behind a curtain._

_Father erasing Euphemia's love._

_Failing._

_Banishing._

_Both sisters; futures gone in a flash of blue._

_Being deported, hysterical and crying, to Japan._

"Wai- " Cornelia began.

Too late, though. Lelouch was already giving his command.

"Lelouch vi Britannia commands you: Sing every nursery rhyme you remember until I tell you to stop! Repeat this every Friday afternoon!"

_I am the _king_ of blackmail! _Lelouch thought gleefully.

* * *

Euphemia's eyes were narrowed in concentration as she tried to absorb every word Nunnally was saying.

"So, you think they definitely weren't alone in Lelouch's room?"

"I'm fairly certain, sister Euphie. I heard three voices in that room. And I am very good at hearing."

Euphemia tented her hands. "Hmm. That sounds pretty suspicious… Good work, Nunnally! I'm promoting you to Junior Investigator!"

Nunnally raised an eyebrow, half-smiling. "Why am I only a Junior Investigator? It seems as if I've done most of the investigating here, sister Euphie."

"You're only a Junior Investigator, because, number one, you're two years younger than me, and number two, I have something else to contribute."

"Oh? And what is it, amazing Nee-sama?"

Euphie said smugly, "I'm _sure _Nee-sama and Lelouch aren't being honest. Did you see him jump when we yelled "Zero!"? Well, think about recent events. Who's been attacking the city lately? The terrorist, _Zero_. I think he must be either working against or for him, although the _against_ is more likely, as Zero is clearly an expert at military strategy and tactics. Lelouch loves a challenge."

"Now Nee-sama, I'm not sure of. She _is _lying about something, though; the only time she takes that tone with me is when she doesn't want me to know about something because she thinks it will hurt me."

A moment's pause. Then Nunnally said, softly, "Don't they realize that it hurts us more when they aren't honest with us? That we want their trust more than their protection?"

Euphemia, sobering, said in response, "I don't think so, Nunnally. The circumstances have forced Nee-sama to give me a degree of freedom that she wouldn't have had we stayed in Pendragon, because I wasn't crippled and blind. But past that point, it's the same as you with Lelouch. They prioritize us above themselves, and do the things we need to survive so we won't have to "get our hands dirty". They try and protect us as if we were paragons. And it's not right, and it's not fair. If they shelter us so much, how will we know what to do when they aren't around anymore? I don't know if I could deal with the loss I would feel from losing either Lelouch or Nee-sama."

Her face softened as she looked at Nunnally. "I bet you could, though, Nunnally. You're much stronger than me. In fact, at times I think you're the strongest of us all."

Nunnally smiled, although rather skeptically. "I don't think so, sister Euphie. You are made of sterner stuff than you think. I," she said in a bitter tone, "don't think that I could survive without your ministrations daily. And I am too weak to tell you to stop…"

"Stop that, Nunnally," said Euphemia, softly but intensely. "It is _no way _your fault we were sent to Japan. If it's anyone fault, it's my fault; if I hadn't tried to help Lelouch, maybe Father wouldn't have felt so threatened."

Nunnally shook her head, miserably, but seemed unable to say anything.

Euphie took her hand, and, even though they both writhed in guilt, each having the other's hand seemed to stabilize the world for both.

They stayed like that for a long while.

Euphie then broke the moment by wrinkling her nose in confusion. "Nunnally, I could be crazy… but do you hear _singing _coming from upstairs?"

Nunnally knit her brow in concentration, and could indeed make out notes of song. The song that matched those notes, though…

"… _Nursery rhymes_?"

* * *

"_Mary had a – _Lelouch, I'm going to get you for this – _little lamb, little lamb, little lamb, Mary had a little lamb, its _– Come on, tell me to stop already! – _fleece was white as snow!"_

Lelouch was having difficulty not breaking into raucous laughter at Cornelia's plight. In fact, it became more and more difficult every second. Exerting himself, he managed to force the laugh-output to a trickle of constant chuckles, quiet enough not to be overheard by his younger sisters below.

Not only was this prime blackmail material, he had been waiting for a chance to get revenge on his sister ever since she nominated him for the Ashford Student Council. Once Milly had had his nomination in hand, there had been no stopping her from forcing him onto the council. Although Cornelia had _supposedly _done it with the noblest of motives, namely, that of having Lelouch participate more in school, he had a very powerful suspicion that she and his two sisters were laughing in their sleeves at him, knowing how uncomfortable Milly made him; this was practically confirmed by a number of sly questions directed at him from his two half-sisters the day after the first harrowing Student Council meeting. Nunnally had, of course, been respectful enough of her Nii-sama to not ask questions, but he thought that she had been in on it as well. He wouldn't get back at her, he was glad to make her laugh, but his half-sisters were a different matter… and although he had a plan to get back at Euphie, Cornelia had been more difficult.

But now… now he had something _excellent_.

After almost ten minutes of this spectacle, Lelouch finally told Cornelia to stop, having recorded the majority of songs, having stashed the camera somewhere where Cornelia couldn't find it, and having changed into his _gi_, because he was sure that Cornelia was going to try and beat the answer out of him as soon as she was free of his Geass.

He was right, and after a few seconds of blocking and dodging, he produced an artificial impasse by hiding in the wardrobe. It could not be locked, so that meant no _let's-leave-Lelouch-in-the-wardrobe-till-he's-sorr y_ tactics could be used, and Lelouch was strong enough to hold Cornelia off for a while. He heard C.C.'s voice outside while he struggled to hold the door against Cornelia's pulling: "An excellent performance, boy."

"Thank you kindly, witch."

"However, there is one element that I had not expected. Miss – Cornelia, correct? – was surprisingly resistant to your compulsion. Miss Cornelia, were you conscious of your actions at any point at all?"

"Yes, of course I was, or I wouldn't be trying to kill my baby brother right now!"

"Hmm. It appears you have a natural resistance to Geass… would you mind telling me who your mother was?"

"My mother was Ulrike Liftrasir. Father took her as consort for some political reason in the EU, as she was Norwegian."

A shocked silence emanated from C.C. She seemed to be at a loss for words.

A rare occurrence, that.

* * *

C.C. was amazed for the second time in six hundred years. This was beyond her expectations. In fact, the entire situation was beyond her expectations. She had expected to find the boy alone with his sister; instead, she found him with two other sisters in tow; and just when she had concluded that they were merely princesses with close ties to Marianne, the elder manifested something like this – Ulrike as her mother! The tendrils of memory crept up from the depths of her brain, and covers flew off pictures whether she wanted them to or not –

_Imperial Palace Complex, Pendragon, Holy Empire of Britannia. 1994 a.t.b._

"_Hey, C.C."_

"_Yes, Marianne?"_

"_Have you seen Charles' new consort yet? Her name's Ulrike Liftrasir."_

"_Can't say that I have, Marianne."_

"_Well, get this: She has pink hair! How ridiculous is that?"_

_C.C. meaningfully fingered her own lime-green tresses._

"_Oh, well, you're not so shocking anymore. I mean, you're just so, you know, blas__é about everything about yourself, I can't really find any part of your history amazes me. It's the tone, not the content, C.C.!" she finished jubilantly._

"_Really?"_

"_Something like that. Anyway, not only does she have pink hair, she was introduced as royalty from Norway."_

"_I… didn't know Norway had royalty."_

"_They don't now. The royal line died out in the eleventh century. It was in _Fortinbras._ Weren't you alive around that time? Anyway, the only reason I can think of for them to fake it is to cover up the _real _reason he took her as consort."_

"_And what would that be, pray tell?"_

_"How the hell should I know? Anyway, I'm going to find out why. Bet Charles'll tell me."_

"_Undoubtedly, Marianne."_

"_See you later!" Marianne sped off, eager for answers._

_A week later. _

_C.C. was sleeping in her darkened room when Marianne burst in and flicked on the light, looking triumphant. _

"_Wake up, C.C.! I finally got the reason out of him!"_

"_Mmph. Couldn't it have waited till morning, Marianne…?"_

"_No way! You sleep too much, C.C. Anyway, so he said the reason he took Ulrike as a consort was not because she was pretty or because she was royalty or anything silly like that, it was because she apparently had some connection with Geass! He asked her a couple of questions about it, but she apparently was completely clueless as to what he was talking about. But just think! If she really did have something to do with Geass, maybe I could achieve the perfect user by mating one of _her _kids with one of mine, rather than both of mine with each other! That would certainly be more efficient and less socially unacceptable, so I could get it done under the table a lot easier."_

_C.C. sat up at this. She looked straight at Marianne. There was no humor at all in her golden eyes as she said, "Marianne. That is an irresponsible and foolish way to think. The future of others is not to be planned for your own benefit. You should regard the feelings of others more. I will help you in your plan, but humans are more, I think, than what you – either of you – feel they are."_

_Marianne just laughed. She was young and intoxicated with her own power. She dreamed of having children to play with, to make an ultimate being from these genes of hers and Charles…_

_2001 a.t.b._

_Time passed, as it is wont to do. Marianne had had her first child, and Ulrike's second was on the way. _

_Marianne was delighted with her child; she could already tell he was intelligent, and he had a natural affinity for Geass. She had tested her Unbounded Soul Geass on him several times, and he had been much more responsive than any of the other ones._

_C.C. was worried about Marianne's mental health. The Unbounded Soul Geass was a sure way of destroying identity if used too often. And Marianne had been using it every chance she had. _

_Ulrike was scared. She did not trust her husband, and he frightened her with his imposing demeanor and cold manner. She was a gentle soul by nature, and mothered the six-year-old Cornelia as well as she could, wondering all the time if it had been the right decision to come here. _

_Charles was the happiest he had ever been in his life, even though he only realized that later. He loved Marianne; her easy grace and kind heart (deep down though it was buried) were beginning to erode at his determination. _

_V.V. was jealous, but not yet enough to do anything. It was beginning to build, however._

_The main event that came out of these suppositions and actions C.C. remembered too well; however, there had been another consequence, one she had nearly forgotten._

_It had been a late night conversation between Charles and Marianne; the subject was their children. Marianne's various plans for creating an ultimate Geass user had not changed, and Charles was content to let her pursue her "hobby", so long as it did not affect their main plans. Her plans would have made anyone listening cringe had they _already_ known Charles' and Marianne's intent for a world without lies. She was callous and quite willing to view her children as pawns for an ultimate goal. She did love them, which was demonstrated just by her wanting to include them in her plans for an ubermensch; she wanted to give them as much glory as possible. It was a selfish sort of love, however._

_A shame that Ulrike overheard every word. _

_At Marianne's final suggestion – that Lelouch be bred with one of Ulrike's children to get a stepping stone to the final goal – Ulrike let a small gasp, which, most unfortunately, Charles heard, being used to watching for assassins in the shadows. He tore open the curtain in the area of the gasp, and found Ulrike hiding._

_He attempted to use his Geass to make her forget what she had heard, but to his irritation, and Marianne's intense interest, a blue inverted Geass flashed in her eye, and removed the effects. Ulrike, terrified by this point, threatened to expose their plans if they hurt her or Cornelia. She had overestimated her influence; this was untenable – threats to the plan could not be tolerated. Marianne wanted to experiment on her, but Charles, out of some fatherly impulse, refused to allow it until the baby was born. _

_Thus, Ulrike was secluded, having little to no contact with her daughter until she birthed Euphemia. Charles then let Marianne experiment, and the screams of Ulrike echoed in tiny Euphemia's mind as Marianne let the amoral scientist in her loose on the poor woman. When Marianne had extracted as much as she could about the Geass Canceller – for that was what they had decided to call it – Ulrike was killed, and Euphemia was given to her sister, along with a message saying that it had been a hard birth, and Ulrike had died as a result._

_Cornelia had nowhere to turn but to Euphemia, and she did not hate her sister as she might have done, but – maybe because Euphemia looked so much like her mother – she lavished all her attention and protection on her, and Cornelia grew up at six years old._

_The wheels of fate turned, and all the events coincided…_

to bring C.C. back to reality.

She staggered at the shock.

_I'm looking at Ulrike's child._

_But if she doesn't have Geass Canceller…_

_Who does?_

Downstairs, talking with Nunnally, sat Euphemia li Britannia.

At C.C.'s question, just for a moment and easily missed…

Her left eye sparked blue.

_Chapter 2 – Origins_

_Consumo._

Author's Note: And so we come to the end of the second chapter of _The Stranger, the Saint, the Horn and the Word._ I'm sorry this is such a freaking long chapter, but there was a ton I needed to say. I needed to establish pretty much all of the character's personalities (although I'm still going to do a little more work on Cornelia – she needs more spotlight), I had to make Cornelia and Euphie's past clear, I had to begin the investigation of Nunnally and Euphie into their older siblings' activities, and I had to have Lelouch meet up with C.C. I think I did all that pretty well (though, of course, I'm not a very good judge). One point I wanted to make clear. Some of you may have noticed that Euphemia and Cornelia's characters are rather different in the anime. This is what I intended. Let me explain. The development of Cornelia and Euphemia's characters in the anime is based on the assumption that 1. Cornelia is quite a bit older than Euphemia (which I changed somewhat), 2. Cornelia and Euphemia grew up in Pendragon, amidst a morass of politics, not in Japan (changed, again), and 3. No Geass Canceller to either (changed… duh). As these things are not the same as they were in the anime, it is reasonable to assume that although the core parts of their personality might be unchanged (for example, Euphie's essential kindness, and Cornelia's overarching protectiveness) the rest of their personalities (which were not very developed in the anime, as we didn't see enough of them in casual conversation) would be a great deal different. Therefore, as you saw, I changed Euphie from a naïve and somewhat insecure girl to a more outgoing and wiser one; and Cornelia from an overprotective, vindictive big sister into a kinder, softer (although still violent and outspoken) one. So please don't complain about OOC behavior; it's really not, especially if you consider the circumstances. Thanks for reading. (By the way, military history kicks ass; I just don't think Euphemia's personality would take to it.)

P.S. Just in case you didn't notice, Euphemia's quote and Marianne's remark about the royal family of Norway are both references to _Hamlet_, although it has been renamed _Fortinbras_, with Hamlet replaced by the youngster "with unimprovèd mettle hot and full" (in other words Fortinbras)

Shakespeare rulez, even in Lelouch's World.


	3. Discoveries

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters presented in this fiction, except one. All characters aside from Ulrike are the property of Sunrise.

Isaiah: Every day, I find out more. Every day, I learn to love a little deeper. The world expands before me, and every day, I am a little more the master.

- Excerpt from the play _The Fall of the Golden Empire_; Ellett, 1932, Backgammon House.

THE STRANGER, THE SAINT, THE HORN, AND THE WORD

_Chapter 3 – Discoveries_

_Incipio._

* * *

Cornelia, distracted momentarily from her murderous rampage against her younger brother, looked at C.C.

"C…C.? Are… are you all right?"

C.C. seemed to be trying to shake something off, a greater weight than could be imagined.

"I… I'm fine. Just… distracted for a moment, that was all."

A snide voice emerged from the wardrobe. "Oh, really? And what distracted you, witch? The fact that Cornelia and Euphemia's mother is Ulrike Liftrasir? Even I knew that."

C.C. replied, "I did know it, boy, I had simply forgotten it. That aside… Miss Cornelia, I believe you may have more potential than I first thought."

Cornelia smiled, roguishly. "Everyone seems to find that out about me."

C.C. quirked a smile in return. "Well, Miss Cornelia, that isn't quite what I meant… I meant that I can likely make a contract with you as well."

Cornelia jumped onto the bed, her eyes alight with determination. "Would it help in the rebellion, do you think?"

"I have no doubt it would, Miss Cornelia. Many hands (or Geasses in this case) make light work, as they-"

"Then please do so." Cornelia was determined that she and her younger brother would share these benefits and the consequences equally; she did not want Lelouch taking on more than his share of danger for this rebellion that was, after all, their shared brainchild.

"Wait, what? _No! _No, C.C.! I forbid you to make a contract with Cornelia! Besides, can't you only make one contract at a time?!" asked Lelouch's voice, now frantic, from the wardrobe. He was trying to open the door, but it seemed to have stuck.

"That is _usually _the case, boy. I very rarely do this because it places extra strain on my mind having two or more contractors as opposed to just one. Also, possible users of Geass are not nearly so common as you'd think. To find two within close proximity of each other is no doubt thanks to your shared father. As such, I think it best to make a contract with both of you; it will boost your chances of success, and I have more than one wish I want to fulfill. Also? _You don't give me orders, boy._"

"_No, _Cornelia! _Stop_!"

Lelouch kept yelling, no longer caring if his younger sisters could hear him. He would not drag Cornelia any deeper into this mess; he _owed _her.

But his exhortations came too late.

C.C. faced Cornelia, and placed a hand on her forehead.

And suddenly, Cornelia was incarnated in a place that seemed not of matter, but of memories and endless time…

A toneless voice emanating from all sides asked her, "The Power of Kings brings loneliness. Are you prepared to walk your path by yourself?"

"Yes," replied Cornelia, firmly.

"I can grant you the Power of Kings, to help you fulfill your dream. But in return, you must fulfill _my_ dearest dream. Do you accept these terms?"

"I do," replied Cornelia.

"Then, it is done. The Power of Kings – and the path of loneliness – is yours."

A searing pain in her left eye. And then, like a seal being placed, the sigil of Geass flashed from the eye. She clutched at it, feeling as though her skull was being riven by the power. She howled with pain. Then, as it reached its climax –

She sat by C.C. again. C.C.'s golden eyes seemed to be boring into her. She felt a pull toward the green-haired girl, and knew the contract had succeeded.

C.C. asked abruptly, "Why did you scream?"

Cornelia, surprised, replied, "Because it _hurt_."

"It wasn't supposed to."

Cornelia's brows knit together. "Why do you suppose it did, then?"

C.C. looked recalcitrant, and would not answer.

* * *

_A few minutes earlier._

Nunnally studied Euphemia's tone of voice as her sister talked on about how fun _most _of high school was, but how _boring _Cornelia's classes were.

Sister Euphie was a naturally attractive personality, and her voice did nothing to curtail it. It had a lilting quality that seemed to make her simplest words beautiful. She charmed every person who came into contact with her, if it was the man at the hot dog stand, or every single boy (and a few girls) in her class. She constantly charmed Nii-sama, though unintentionally; Nunnally could tell that he was beginning to share his sister Cornelia's instinct to protect her.

_Soon we won't be able to go anywhere, because there will be so much brotherly and sisterly love and affection flowing down, they won't let us step out of doors without an armed guard._

She giggled a little at the image, and immediately felt guilty. Why was she questioning her older siblings' motives? She had nowhere near the same pressures they had to bear daily, so why should she laugh at them for being protective?

_Stupid. Stupid. Stupid…_

"…And then I said, 'Nee-sama, I don't know anything about military history and I don't care about the Battle of London. Why are you asking me, when you could ask Lelouch?' Both of them gave me an angry look, but most of the rest of the class laughed. I thought it was pretty funny, myself." Euphemia stopped, noticing she had lost her audience. "What's wrong, Nunnally?" she said, a little anxiously.

_Don't make sister Euphemia worried! Pull yourself together, Nunnally!_

"N-nothing, sister Euphie. I'm – I'm just a little tired."

Euphemia laughed at this. "You're telling me! We really shouldn't have stayed up so late last night; we need our beauty sleep! Well, maybe we can sneak in a nap now, before - "

There was a muffled but distinct yell from upstairs. More followed.

Both the girls tensed in worry.

"You – you wait here, Nunnally. I'll go see what's wrong."

Nunnally hoped nothing evil had come of the stranger she had heard earlier…

* * *

Euphemia slowly climbed the steps to Lelouch's room. She was very worried – it was not in either Nee-sama or Lelouch's natures to be screaming that loudly. What if they had gotten hurt? What if the stranger Nunnally mentioned had attacked one of them? She would never forgive herself if her negligence had resulted in injury… or even…

She couldn't finish the thought.

She crept up to the door, and put her ear on the keyhole. She needed to know what was going on, after all, before dashing in.

A soul-rending scream greeted her.

It was Nee-sama's voice.

Euphemia could not control a gasp, but it was lost in the scream. She put her hand over her mouth, and felt tears start in her eyes.

_Oh no. Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no. Not Nee-sama._

Oddly, the next moment she heard Nee-sama talking as if nothing had happened. She made out "…it _hurt,_" and then a response from the stranger, too quiet to decipher.

Euphemia knew she ought to do something, but she was paralyzed with fear and anxiety. What if Nee-sama was being tortured? What if Lelouch was dead? What if the stranger was a holdout from the Japanese military or (_oh no_) a Britannian assassin? She cursed herself for cowardice, and pressed her ear harder to the keyhole, felt the brass mark it.

She could hear Nee-sama speaking more clearly now: "Well, now that I have this power, what does it do?"

A response from the stranger: "I can't tell you that. Your power is a reflection of the deepest desire of your heart when you received it. Whatever you wished you could most do, you now have that ability. What did you wish?"

A hesitation from Nee-sama, and then: "I… I wished to be able to protect. To save all those who I care for."

"Then, your ability should have something to do with that. Boy, why don't you come out of that wardrobe? Your sister isn't trying to kill you anymore."

A pause. "I would… but the door's stuck…" said Lelouch, rather sheepishly.

Euphemia suppressed a giggle. The situation was apparently not as bad as she had thought. But what was all this talk of powers?

Nee-sama, snickering at Lelouch's plight, said, "Here, let your big sister help you with that, Lulu. Don't worry, it'll be okay, I'm here…"

Lelouch, sputtering with rage at his sister, stepped out of the wardrobe…

A quiet _whoosh_, a shift from Nee-sama, a rush of wind from inside, a sound like a broken string.

The air had gone tense.

Euphemia held her breath and kept listening…

* * *

Cornelia's left eye glowed with the Geass sigil, and her body shook with the effort of holding the knife in place. She knew that if she dropped her Geass, the knife would continue its journey, and even though she had blocked the original target, Lelouch, it would find its home in not in his chest but in hers. Lelouch quickly got out of the way, sensing that his sister was not to be bothered in this, slipped around in front of her, and closed his hand around the knife's blade.

"Okay, Cornelia. You can drop the Geass now."

Heaving with the effort, she closed her eye in relief, and dropped to her knees.

The knife tried to continue its path, but Lelouch held it firmly, and it lost its energy to his hand.

"Now." With a cold and deadly tone, Lelouch turned to C.C. "Why did you just try to kill us? Give me an answer, or I will turn you over to the Britannian authorities. I don't care if we have a contract, I will consider it voided by this act of treachery."

C.C. smirked at him. "I was being expedient, boy. This is an easy way to discover what the parameters of Cornelia's Geass are, and as hers seemed to be based around protection, I thought that attempting to hurt you would bring it out quick." She looked dispassionately at Cornelia, on her knees and still breathing hard. "I was afraid of this; I'm afraid her heritage has made her rather resistant to Geass. This is a difficulty. She will still be able to use it, of course. It's just that it will be unlikely to work on herself, and probably strenuous to perform it on other people. She will need to train in its use, or risk losing control of it at critical junctures."

"You presume to tell us what to do after you just -"

"No, Lelouch… it's… okay…" gasped Cornelia, who still felt rather short of breath.

C.C. gave her a half-lidded smile. "I knew you were more sensible than your brother. Make sure that she's in top shape for your rebellion's little battle on Tuesday."

Lelouch ground his teeth. "It is not a _little _battle; we have to break into _Sarubami Castle_, the most tightly secured prison in the area, with Carine acting as watchdog until the person we want to rescue gets executed! I'm still not sure - "

"Whatever. Just don't forget our contract." C.C.'s eyes glinted as she disappeared beneath Lelouch's covers again. "Good night, Lelouch. Good night, Cornelia. Don't let anyone else try to stab you."

"It's eight forty-three in the morning, witch! Why are you – wait a minute, it's _eight forty-three_! Cornelia, you were supposed to be at Ashford for the staff meeting thirteen minutes ago, and I've got to be in class with Euphemia at nine!" He shot a glare at C.C., but she just sniggered at him, and pulled the covers over her head. "Don't worry, I won't look at you while you change," she said, clearly amused.

Lelouch ran over to the door, pulled it open and –

found no one there.

"Euphie! Use the bathroom if you still need to! We have to go in less than five minutes!" He turned to Cornelia. "You'd probably better get ready first, though. You're later than we are." Cornelia, still somewhat winded, nodded, and ducked into the bathroom.

_The witch did have a point… how is she going to use it effectively if she gets this tired from stopping one knife?_

He suddenly remembered that he had a student council meeting that day. Groaning, he halved his planning session with Cornelia; student council sessions _always _overran their times.

He shouted for Euphemia again, and began to change into his school uniform.

* * *

Euphemia crouched in a corner of her room, too shell-shocked to hear Lelouch calling for her. She was trembling at what she had just heard.

_My half-brother is Zero. My sister is Infinity_.

Although they had not said specifically that, she had no doubt it was true.

_My siblings are trying to take down Britannia!_

_But why?_

Any number of reasons presented themselves, but none satisfied her. She knew her siblings very well, having been their constant companion for seven years, and vice versa, but she could have in no way predicted something like this.

She would just have to ask them.

But she could not – would not tell Nunnally until she knew something more. It would be unkind and unwise to dump all this on her little sister without a better knowledge of the facts.

She realized the time, winced despite her shock, and hurriedly got ready for school.

* * *

_A few hours after lunch._

_This is the part of the day I dread the most, _thought Lelouch grumpily.

The Ashford Student Council meetings were the times when he had to place himself under Milly Ashford's sexually charged tyranny; he had to dodge her innuendoes, pointedly ignore her shipping fervor, and still try and do the work of most of the council by himself.

To put it lightly, they were rather stressful.

_If I do all the work… then why is _she _still the president?!_

The answer came, unbidden: _Because her family owns the academy?_

_Right._

He strode into the room. Milly brightened on noticing him; he was by far her most amusing target. Shirley was too easy, Rivalz reveled in the attention, Nina just curled up until it was over, and no one could be so mean as to make fun of Nunnally and Kallen.

But Lelouch was fair game, and a sporting player.

"Hi, Lulu." said Milly, winking slyly. "You're pretty late…Too shy to face me after what you did, eh?"

"I'm not sure what you mean, President."

"You know… _this _and _that_? There ought to be a law against enjoying it as much as you did."

"Oh, you mean tennis? Well, I must admit that I do get caught up in the game - "

"Nice cover, Lulu. Well, we'll let it stay a secret for now… just between friends, hmm?"

"Right you are, madam President."

He seemed to have escaped the verbal swordfight with only minimal damage to his reputation this time, and he was congratulating himself, when Milly hit him over the head with a piece of paper, and demanded to know how he expected them to get this work done if not everybody chipped in.

_Ugh._

He turned his attention to the club budgets and resigned himself to a long afternoon.

* * *

_Two hours later._

The club budgets were all done, thanks to Lulu's excellent math skills and Rivalz's knack for handling money. Shirley was just about to congratulate herself on a harassment-free day, when she felt the President's Roman fingers on her chest.

"P-p-president!" she gasped indignantly. "Don't do that! It's dirty!"

"Oh, how can I help myself?" said Milly brightly. "You're just too cute!"

Lulu was trying not to laugh. _Come on, Lulu. Not helping._

Rivalz looked a little excited. _He's a perv. What should I expect?_

Nina was hiding behind her _Britannian Physics Journal. Naturally…_

Nunnally was still smiling politely, although she looked a little wooden, and Kallen looked remarkably uninterested.

_Grr. Nobody _ever _gets the president off my back… or off my chest, as it were. Why can't Lulu at least stick up for me? He gets teased at least as much as I do! _

Somehow she knew this line of logic was somewhat flawed. Seeing this, she began to sink into a bad mood, and wasn't sure why.

"Any other business?"

Lulu stood up, and her heart leapt for some reason. _It's not like he's going to tell the president to stop; she'd redouble her efforts to make him blush._ But she couldn't help thinking it all the same.

"President Milly, I have a proposition to make. I believe we will have an open seat soon?"

"Yes, Lulu; Kallen is going to have to go on sick leave for a few months, and her seat will be filled by a temporary member. What about it? Do you have a suggestion as to who should fill it?"

"Actually, madam President, I do. I would like to recommend Euphemia Langenrosa as temporary council member."

Shirley was confused. What connection did he have to Euphie? She was certainly the nicest and prettiest girl in the school…

_Maybe he's got a crush on her._

For some reason, Shirley really wanted to block this motion. She didn't say anything, though.

"She'll need a teacher's recommendation for that – and it can't be from Miss Langenrosa!" said Milly sternly.

"I have her recommendation right here, madam President. All she needs is a student council member's recommendation and she will be (heh) a member of the council."

"All right, let's take a vote. All in favor say aye!"

"Aye." said Rivalz enthusiastically. He probably thought it would improve his scoring odds with her.

"Aye." from Nina. Euphemia had been kind to her several times before.

"Aye." said Milly, interested. She was always glad to have a new target… but she looked less predatory and more pleased than Shirley would have thought.

"Aye." said Kallen. Kallen hardly ever bothered to vote nay on anything.

"Aye." said Lulu. Lulu – of course he wouldn't vote down his own nomination!

Shirley felt unreasonably betrayed anyway.

She realized everyone was looking at her, and said, rather reluctantly, "…Aye."

"Good! Then it's unanimous. Euphemia Langenrosa will sit in place of Kallen Stadtfeld while Ms. Stadtfeld is on sick leave. Meeting adjourned! Mr. Vice President, please stay back, I need a word with you."

Slowly the room emptied of everyone except Lulu and Milly. Shirley was wildly curious as to what they would talk about, but she shouldn't eavesdrop… should she?

The curiosity won. She idled near the water fountain nearby, and waited till the door was shut. As soon as it was, she quickly drew as near as she dared and tried to listen in.

"… glad that Euphie's getting more involved in school activities, Lulu."

Lulu cackled. "Oh, I'm glad, too… I just hope that she'll be glad when she finds out!"

Milly sighed. "What did you do this time, Lulu?"

"I _might've _been getting back at her and Cornelia for landing me in the Student Council in the first place…"

"Aw, you're still hung up about _that_, Lulu? That was months ago! It was a joke!"

"A joke that cut my free time to an eighth of what it was before!"

"And so you're going to get back at her by… forcing her onto the student council as well? Little hypocritical, don't ya think, Lulu?"

"She had it coming. I know she's my half-sister - " _what? _" – but sisters don't _have_ to scheme so much! Well, I can scheme, too! I've already gotten back at Cornelia, but this is my revenge on Euphie!"

"Just for that, Lulu, I'm not going to tease her at all, and I'm going to double up on teasing you! Honestly, you'd think banished royalty would comport themselves better around girls – especially girls who happen to be sisters! And speaking of girls, Shirley has…"

_Sister? Royalty? What's going on?!_

Shirley was so amazed by what she had heard that she heard neither the last statement, nor, unfortunately, Milly and Lelouch, until they were beginning to walk out. In fact, she didn't realize they were out until they had seen her.

The pair regarded their unwelcome listener with shock.

_This was definitely a bad idea…_

_Chapter 3 – Discoveries_

_Consumo._

Author's Note: And I leave you at a cliffhanger! I'm sorry, that really wasn't nice of me, but I had to cut this chapter in half.

A request: I am somewhat worried about my characterization of the Ashford Student Council. If you have some constructive criticism to offer, please PM me and I'll try and work it into their next appearance. I've got to say; they are _way _harder to write for than Euphemia or Lelouch. I like writing for those two the best, because I like their personalities so much. Anyway, the next chapter will have some awesome Nunnally action!


	4. Illusions

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters presented in this fiction, except one. All characters aside from Ulrike are the property of Sunrise.

Lies – all lies! They were deceived; the Empire took them over, and that was an end to the matter. But the lies remained, smoldering in the hearts of the oppressed people, like resentful sparks waiting to ignite a fire…

- Excerpt from _The Unknown History of Britannia_; 2016, Reddick, [publisher name withheld] (only in sale in the EU)

THE STRANGER, THE SAINT, THE HORN, AND THE WORD

_Chapter 4 – Illusions_

_Incipio._

* * *

Before Shirley could do anything, Lulu and Milly each took one of her arms, and started to frog-march her down the hallway. Milly's voice hissed in her ear.

"Shirley, do not say or do anything. The lives of four people are riding on your cooperation with us. It's fine that you were curious, but now that you've heard, we have to tell you the rest and swear you to secrecy. If anyone asks you tomorrow, say that you forgot your Council supplies and had to go to my house for fresh copies. I am being deadly serious right now. Life and death, Shirley Fenette, life and death!"

Milly smiled vaguely at a passing student. "One of our members didn't comply with the Code! She must be punished!" He forced a chuckle at the spectacle, while staring at Milly, and moved on.

Shirley barely remembered the march to the car. Her head was full of what she had just discovered. _Lulu is royalty? Euphemia's his sister?_ _Could they have me executed? I hope not…_

When they reached the car, most of the tension seemed to go out of Milly and Lulu.

"All right, Shirley. First off: Why did you eavesdrop on our conversation?" said Milly.

"Huh…? Well, I don't know… I was just, you know, interested as to why Lulu proposed Euphie as a new council member."

Milly turned, annoyed, to Lulu. "That was a _terrible _idea, Lelouch."

"Well, you try and get back at a sister who's so popular she has boys coming out of her ears to do her bidding!" Lulu shot back. "Even if she didn't ask them to, they would have found me and killed me had I pranked her! This has so much less bloodshed involved! A short dearth of free time for her, and I get my revenge! It was as simple as that!"

"You really need to learn how to _do_ pranks, Lulu. Maybe I'll teach you sometime…" she said, and, while a dreamy look entered her eyes, she licked her index finger provocatively.

"Not the time, Milly!" said Lulu, who was the closest to panic Shirley had ever seen him. "Shirley! Do you swear by, by… who's most precious to you?"

"Um… I guess… my father is…"

"Then, do you swear by the life of your father that you will _never _tell anyone about this?"

"Y-yes, I do."

Lulu seemed to deflate at that, and gave her a weak smile. "Sorry about that. I'm… I'm just a little scared about our secret getting out. You see, there are probably still quite a few people who want us dead…"

Shirley felt overwhelmed. "Who is _us_? Why would anyone want _you_ dead?"

Milly faced Shirley. Her face was more serious than Shirley had ever seen it. "Shirley. What I am about to tell you is a secret that perhaps only eight or nine people in the entire world know. Once I do tell you, you are not to speak of it outside of that circle for the rest of your life, unless circumstances render it moot. Am I understood?"

"Yes… yes…"

Milly sighed, and pointed at Lelouch. "This is not Lelouch Lamperouge. You have never known Lelouch Lamperouge. You have never known Nunnally Lamperouge, Euphemia Langenrosa, or Cornelia Langenrosa, either. These are their real names: Nunnally vi Britannia, Euphemia li Britannia, Cornelia li Britannia, and Lelouch vi Britannia. They were sent here as a part of a diplomatic envoy, and no one saw them again after the Second Pacific War. They were believed to have died in the fighting. They did _not_ die. In other words, the Eleventh Prince and the Second, Third, and Seventeenth Princesses have been living here for seven years, under the noses of the First and Fifth Princesses."

Thunderstruck did not even begin to describe what Shirley felt. She thought, over and over again, like a broken record, _And to think, half an hour ago, I was worried that Lulu had a crush on Euphie!_

* * *

Milly Ashford stared at the astonished girl in front of her, and sighed. "It's all right, Shirley. I'm pretty sure he won't make you bow…"

Shirley shook herself, and said, timidly, "So… what are you going to do with me?"

Milly began to answer, with a gleam in her eye, but Lelouch cut her off before she could really start in on Shirley. _Effing Lulu._

"Do? We're not going to _do _anything to you, Shirley. We're going to drop you off at your dorm, and hope that you stay quiet. I can't force you, of course," he paused a moment at that, "well, I _can_, but I'm not going to. Just remember: If you tell anyone who is not Reuben or Milly Ashford, or whose name ends with a vi or li Britannia, then it's very likely all up for us. I imagine that we would be dead, or used as pawns in some political game, within the week. I'm putting our lives in your hands, Shirley."

Shirley nodded tremulously.

"Thank you," said Lelouch softly. "Disinherited royals are a liability, but you will protect us, and risk yourself doing so… you are a friend, indeed. Thank you."

Milly directed the driver to Shirley's dorm, and they drove on in silence.

After Lelouch had shown Shirley to her building, Milly buttonholed him into doing some more paperwork for her. His cries of "_See?_ _This_ is what I meant when I said this prank _EATS. UP. MY. FREE. TIME!"_ did not move her, and indeed made it more amusing. She gave Lelouch the option of trying out some new techniques with her, and it was a mark of his desperation that he agreed, but when she showed him the pictures, he turned a delicate shade of blue-green, and declined as politely as he could before going to throw up. She snickered as he emptied his stomach; she had intentionally chosen the most disturbing pictures she could find in her grandfather's folders.

Not that she _wouldn't _like to do some of these with Lulu someday… it was just, she wanted both him and her to have _much _more stamina, as well as stronger immune systems. She was continually amazed that her grandfather still managed to cultivate such a strong interest in things like that; and she remained convinced that she had gotten her sex drive from him and not her boring, law-abiding parents.

Lelouch reappeared while she was still in dreamland, and almost managed to sneak off before she shook herself and dragged him back to the desk, where he begged piteously to go home. She relented and told him he only had to do one of the itineraries, and then she would drive him home. "Or, we could go the couch… and I could teach you some life lessons…" she suggested innocently. Again, she was politely declined. She laughed at his fastidiousness, and left him to his work.

* * *

Lelouch stumbled through the door to the Vili, the apartment that Euphie had dubbed in honor of the middle honorifics of the four siblings. He had a mind to go right to bed –

But most unfortunately, he had an obstacle. A pink-haired, worried-looking one.

Euphie was sitting at the table in front of him, and from the look on her face, one of two things had happened.

Either she had found that their secret had been spilled to Shirley, and was going to chastise him for it. Unlikely, as that had happened mere hours before, and Milly had not told anyone that he knew.

Or, she had found out what Cornelia and Lelouch were doing. Raising a rebellion. Planning to destroy Britannia.

He sincerely hoped that it was the first.

Euphie, not taking her eyes away from Lelouch, called up the stairs to her sister: "Onee-sama, could you come down now, please? Lelouch is home, and I want to talk to both of you." She said to Lelouch, "Onii-sama. Would you mind sitting down?" She indicated the chair nearest her.

_Onii-sama. Formal mode. That's a bad sign._

He took his seat, and sat in increasingly uncomfortable silence.

Eventually, when Cornelia had come down, looking a little apprehensive, Euphemia, her face unsure, said, "I overheard your conversation with… C.C., was it?"

Very _not good_, thought Lelouch.

Cornelia seemed to have frozen in place. She hated lying to her little sister, and now it looked as if she was going to have to.

"From what she said, it seems like you two are trying to overthrow the Britannian Empire. And I think that you two are – are Zero and Infinity."

_Yes, _thought Lelouch, in some corner of his brain that wasn't panicking,_ that's pretty much spot-on._

He and Cornelia had led armies. Were they to be undone by that most insidious and deadly of all threats, a little sister? It seemed they were about to find out.

He met Cornelia's eyes, and a spark of understanding passed unseen between them. She knew now that they were not going to give in, but they were going to fight. They had planned for someone overhearing one of their conversations, after all.

But they had not expected Euphemia as their enemy.

_Battle Start!_

Cornelia looked over at Lelouch, and said, "Brother, would you care to explain?"

"Certainly, Sister," Lelouch said, hoping his voice was sure enough.

He cleared his throat, and prepared for the assault on Euphie's assumptions.

"Euphie… you are partially right. We _are _part of a resistance movement. But. We are _not_ Zero and Infinity, and we will _never_ associate with them."

The lie almost stuck in his throat, and he could hardly stand Euphie's now confused and upset face, but the knowledge that Cornelia was keeping a straight face, and that this was even worse for her, kept him going.

"Our faction is actually composed of disillusioned Britannians. We wish, shall we say, a political and social reformation of the Holy Empire, and we are beginning to be influential enough to make a real impact on the governance of this area. However, we are separate from the Shinjuku Group – and we do not approve of their use of violence. Their sudden elevation was as much a surprise to us as to the rest of the world."

Euphemia's eyes widened, and she began to look close to tears. To hear that her siblings were trying to change the world from the _inside _rather than with violent persuasion had been a cruel blow to her confidence.

Nevertheless, she felt she had to try one more time.

"How do I know you're not lying?"

Lelouch and Cornelia looked at each other again, and Cornelia said, gently, "Sweetie, do you remember when Zero first appeared?"

Euphemia nodded. It had been in all the papers; after all, the failure of the First Princess to destroy Shinjuku was big news.

"Well, Lelouch was not in Shinjuku that day."

In a small voice, Euphemia said, "…Really?"

Here came the _big_ lie. Lelouch braced himself.

"I was in the Shibuya district when it broke. Gambling is a lot easier there, because it's so commercialized. Anyway, when we saw the news, Rivalz and I came straight back to the Academy; it was unlikely that Shibuya would have been hit, but we figured it was best for me to be home. You can ask Rivalz about it if you want to; I'm sure he remembers it pretty well."

Rivalz would back him up; Lelouch had Geassed him to corroborate his story. As no one but the noble he had been gambling with, the man he had helped, and C.C. knew he had been there, it would be very difficult for anyone to find evidence to the contrary.

Euphemia was ashamed - terribly ashamed, it was clear - at having falsely suspecting her brother and sister. Lelouch could tell that they had broken her resolve with the lies about non-violence, and Lelouch's "rock-solid" alibi. He writhed inwardly at this; he and Cornelia were the ones who deserved to be ashamed, but they _had _to continue! They couldn't be stopped! Not _here_, not _now_!

Euphie said, tremulously, "I'm sorry… I thought – I thought… t-that… you both were…" She began to sob. Cornelia went to hug her. Guilt burned in Lelouch's stomach as he watched his little sister break down in Cornelia's arms.

_Conditions cleared. Victory has been achieved. _But this most certainly didn't feel like a victory; as his sister cried for her accusations, he felt that his purpose was compromised. _I'm doing this for Euphemia and Nunnally. I don't want to make them cry. I want to make them safe._

_So why am I torturing Euphemia?!_

He hurriedly excused himself, and lay down on the floor in his room without waiting for comment from C.C. Even though he was exhausted, his eyes wouldn't close for a long while. When he did, his dreams were full of Euphemia and Nunnally crying at what he had done to them.

A fit penance.

_No…_

* * *

Cornelia felt absolutely, utterly despicable. Lying to Euphemia wasn't like lying to anyone else; her sister trusted her implicitly, more even then she trusted Lelouch or Nunnally, and this made her inclined to believe what Cornelia said. So when Cornelia lied to her, Euphemia believed that what she said was the truth, and sought refuge with her when she found out she had hurt her siblings by incorrectly suspecting them of terrorism.

It made Cornelia feel dirty to lie to anyone, but to lie to Euphie had been unthinkable.

At least, it had been until today.

Cornelia held her sister as she sobbed, and she kept her own tears back as long as Euphie remained. She knew that they would be torrential when they came; they were tears of rage at herself and Lelouch for lying, different than Euphemia's tears of self-reproach at her own mistake. At last, Euphie sniffled herself into silence.

"Come on, honey. You need to go to bed." Euphemia nodded, and allowed Cornelia to guide her to her room. Before going in, she turned and gave Cornelia a fierce hug. That nearly broke Cornelia's reserve of staying silent, but she hugged back all the same.

"I love you, Nee-sama."

"I love you more than you can imagine, Euphemia."

That was the only truth she had spoken all night. It made her feel better.

But only a little.

When she got back to her room, she curled up under the covers and cried for a long time, muffling furious and guilt-ridden tears in her pillow.

_Life shouldn't have to be like this…_

* * *

_The next morning._

When Euphemia woke up the next morning, she wished that she hadn't. It brought everything back from the disastrous confrontation last night. She resolved to stay in bed for the rest of the day; even when Nunnally came to visit her, Euphie saw no reason to change her resolve. Nunnally had been asleep during the conversation the night before, but she didn't miss the thick tone in Euphemia's voice that bespoke tears, and she was kind enough to leave Euphemia to her bed. She couldn't help wondering, though, what could make her cheerful half-sister so dejected as to not want to leave her bed.

Euphie tried to sleep some more, but eventually, her body refused to comply any more with her wish to forget the previous night. She ended up staring at the ceiling, lost in a haze of misery.

_I can't believe I did that. Why did I do that? Why was I so suspicious? They wouldn't lie to me! And Nee-sama was so kind… and Lelouch didn't say anything mean… He was even being nice…_

She almost started crying again, but managed to stop herself.

_I'm a horrible person._

From Euphemia's gloomy demeanor, there seemed to spread a fog of miasma throughout the Vili; both Lelouch and Cornelia kept to their beds as well, overcome by guilt and shame at their lies to Euphemia, and unwilling to face each other, for fear of saying something they might regret. Nunnally was the only person who managed to bear up at all under the distress, but even her good spirits were greatly affected.

She consigned herself to a silent and doleful day as she tried to ensure her siblings ate _something_ at least.

* * *

When Milly came to see what was the matter (for Cornelia had a field trip she was supposed to lead, and Lelouch had Student Council duties that needed attending to), Nunnally answered the door, and looked so unhappy that Milly immediately concluded that one of the siblings must be ill; it was a common enough occurrence, and it reduced the other three to sympathetic gloom for days on end. But she had never seen Nunnally in _this_ poor of a temper before; that made her worry. She resolved to talk to her grandfather about this; he would know what to do, as he had known all of them from childhood. She promised Nunnally that she would send a council member over with some food (as Nunnally had understandable difficulty cooking), and went to apologize for Cornelia's absence and do Lelouch's work.

She might have been a (albeit attractive) pervert and a prankster, but she was a true friend, and she cared about the four very much.

So, after she finished smoothing over the difficulties caused by the siblings' absence, she went to visit her Grandpa. Even though it wasn't a school day, he would be working in his office. He was a kind, generous, and intelligent man, and he was dedicated to Ashford Academy; he called it his chance to "succeed where once I failed", in other words, giving the boarders – Japanese or Britannian - a solid and ethical education when he had failed to do so with his daughter and son-in-law.

He also knew that he wouldn't be disturbed in his office, and he used his spare time to fuel his "interests".

Milly loved him for his kindness and generosity, and she admired him for his work ethic and – slightly dubiously - his "interests". She tried to emulate him in her life, because, besides him, her role models were rather thin on the ground. The emulation of his "interests" did cause problems, but it made her life _fun_.

Grinning, she asked the receptionist to tell Mr. Ashford that his granddaughter was here to see him. The receptionist smiled back, and said, "Go on in, he's free."

She walked up to the door, and let herself in. "Hi, Grandpa."

"Mpph? Ha! Yes… Milly. Hello. I most _certainly_ did not fall asleep staring lewdly at a video of Princess Guinevere. I did _not _do that. That is my _least _favorite thing to do."

"I'm sure it is, Grandpa."

"Anyway," Reuben said, "Why did you come and visit me? I _know_ you don't just want to visit your old grandpa; you're much too busy to simply visit me nowadays…" He tried to put on a wounded face at this, but Milly rolled her eyes, and he laughed.

Milly loved her Grandpa, but she had to admit, he was the only one who really knew how to push her buttons. Her penchant for doing so to others sprang forth from his, and as he needed to act the principal most of the time, she was really the only target he could safely annoy without looking juvenile.

Case in point, he knew how much she liked Lelouch, and wouldn't let up on it.

"So, really, why are you here, Milly? Having love trouble? "Lulu" still dodging your backhanded courtship? I'm sure any boy – and some of the girls – in the school would give their right arms to get the amount of attention you give that boy on a daily basis. But him? He's hopeless. If you ask me, he's obsessed with those sisters of his. Spends more time with them than anyone else. Think you can cure his sister complex with a little seduction? Or do you have a _thing_ for siscons?"

Milly blushed. Her grandfather might be kidding, but below the kidding was real worry; for both Milly and Lelouch. She hated to admit it – even to herself – but he was probably right; Lelouch did seem to be obsessed with his sisters, and mainly his full sister, Nunnally. Milly adored all of the siblings, and she would by no means wish them harm; but she did wish that Lelouch would look up long enough from his sisters to see her come-ons. Even if he did, however, it would hurt Shirley a great deal to see her President going out with her crush. So it was fated not to be – as long as they were all still in school, at least.

After he had graduated, however, he was fair game.

A shiver ran up her spine, and she dreamed for a moment of her and Lelouch…

She put such happy fantasies from her mind, and turned back to her grandfather. "No, Grandpa – that's on hold for now, remember? The reason I came _does_ concern him, though."

Grandpa quirked an eyebrow in invitation for her to continue.

"Well," she said, a little hesitantly, "I – well, he and his sisters aren't doing too well."

"Is one of them sick again? Good Lord, Cornelia and Lelouch need to learn that sheltering their siblings doesn't _decrease _the chance of illness, it _increases _it. And they could probably stand to take on a little less work themselves; Cornelia's been looking more and more tired at every staff meeting."

"No, they aren't sick. In fact, I don't think they're even close to being sick."

He frowned in puzzlement. "What's the problem, then?"

"We-ell, from what I heard from Nunnally – she's the only one up right now, you know – all three of her siblings have been bedridden since last night. And they're not ill, according to her. But she looked as miserable as if they _had_ been ill, and that's what worried me."

He frowned again, this time in worry. "You were right, that's _not_ good. Hmm. Do you know anything about Nunnally's extrasensory abilities?"

She shook her head, confused.

"Well, when she was born, she had a remarkable natural empathic link with her brother. If he was unhappy for any reason, you could bet that she would start crying the moment he did. And when Marianne offered asylum to those two others, Cornelia and – what was her name – ah, of course, Euphemia, it eventually extended to them. She could sense that they were unhappy, and if she knew enough of the circumstances behind it, she could usually make them feel better. After she lost her sight, it gained in power, if anything. The fact that she's had it all her life without a break means that she takes it for granted, just like everyone else does with sight or hearing. She also acts as a conduit for emotions; she gives feedback – even though it's hardly noticeable – to those encompassed by her ability, on the others affected by it. This explains why all _four_ of them felt horrible whenever _one_ of them had a cold. However, in _this_ case, not only is she feeling a strong enough emotion to affect her own feelings, she is unable to assuage it because she has no knowledge of what has occurred to make them all so miserable, and even worse, with the feedback to each of them, she's intensifying the negative emotions felt by all of them; slowly but surely. If we don't do something now, we probably won't see any of them next week."

Milly was stricken. "So what do you think I should do?"

"What do I think _you _should do?" he echoed. "Mmm… I think you should go down there and help Nunnally get out of her funk. And I think that you should start interacting with _all _the siblings more, because, if you do, number one, they'll all become used to your presence, which will likely start to include you in the empathic link that they share. That'll let you cheer them up if they get down for any reason. Number two, _Lelouch_ will get used to you. And you know what _that _means…"

"_Grand_pa!"

He chuckled at her indignant reply, and waved her out, saying, "I do have actual work to do; go and bother Nunnally some."

She did as she was told, and left. As she stepped into the fine spring evening, she thought, _I'm going to help you four out of whatever trouble you're in, see if I don't!_

Unconsciously, she knew that she _would _do whatever it took to help them.

She didn't know that that would entail a great deal more than she thought.

But it did, and she was now bound up with her best friends' fates until their story wound out.

Fate has a way of springing surprises like that.

That's probably why he's not popular at parties.

_Chapter 4 – Illusions_

_Consumo._

Author's Note: Well, I'm back, and with a notebook full of ideas that I wrote while on my four-day weekend. I've realized that I will probably either split this into two stories, or just have one long story with a time skip in the middle, because this is going to be a _long _one. And I just decided to upgrade Milly from a relatively minor role to a major one, because I just realized how much I like her character here. That isn't to say that most characters won't get any spotlight, however. I've got plans for a lot of them. If you have characters that you like, I will stop just short of guaranteeing that most of them from the anime will make an appearance here. If they do appear, some of them might be… _changed_. The subtraction of Cornelia and Euphemia from the Britannian political scene, and their addition to Japan, has wrought quite a few changes in power balances; one you might already have noticed is that Clovis is _not _the Viceroy of Area Eleven. Why? We'll see… Also, I warn you: **I'm going to ship almost **_**every **_**(named) ****character. I have a penchant for it that I inherited from reading the Wheel of Time series. This will require a **_**lot **_**of character development, so be prepared for the long haul. Even More Warning: **_**There will be at LEAST one harem in the story. If you can't guess who it is, then you clearly haven't watched the show. Its member count is currently undetermined. **_I'm also going have (mostly) new battles. These will require some time, so battle chapters might take longer than relational chapters. I really think that this take on what might have been (or what is... who knows?) will be interesting, so if you like what you've read so far, why don't you stick with me? Let's see what happens!


	5. Arrivals and Exits

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters presented in this fiction, except one. All characters aside from Ulrike are the property of Sunrise.

To enter a story is to ensure that you leave it someday.

– Indian Proverb

THE STRANGER, THE SAINT, THE HORN, AND THE WORD

_Chapter 5 – Arrivals and Exits_

_Incipio._

* * *

Nunnally was in a terrible mood.

Her empathic link with her siblings was pouring out a constant assault of guilt, anger, self-reproach, sadness, and unhappiness on her mind, which felt like a battering ram directed against her peace of mind. She was invariably pursued by an itch that seemed to indicate that she should do something, anything to ease their pain, but as she didn't know the circumstances, and she suspected that trying to interfere would only make things worse for both her and her siblings.

So, she did what she could to make their day off more comfortable, tried not to be sour about their bad moods converging on her, and tried not to dwell on the negative emotion that was gradually eroding her patience and tact.

_Soon I'm going to be so irritable and unhappy, even Euphemia won't want to be around me. Not that she wants to be _now_, _she thought, a little blackly.

_Soon, not even Nii-sama… _

This was so scary and definitively not funny that her stress level went up a couple notches from it alone.

_Maybe if I start swearing, someone will come and help me, _she thought, somewhat frantically._ Let's see, what swear words do I know? Well, there's "dang". I remember Nii-sama getting mad when Cornelia said it where I could hear it. And then, I guess, there's "fudge". Everyone seems to use that one whenever I'm around, even when Cornelia shushes. Oh yeah, and then there's "shoot". Okay, three is enough, right? _

Nunnally took a deep breath.

In a would-be dirty litany, she began rattling off as many "swear" words as she could, at the top of her lungs.

"_Dang! Fudge! Shoot! Dang Fudge! Shoot Fudge! Fudge Dang! Dang! Dang! Shoot! Fudge! Shoot! Fudge! Fudge! FUDGE!"_

She finished triumphantly, before realizing that there was someone else in the apartment. She studied the gait, almost automatically, and identified it as Milly.

"Um, Nunnally? What were you doing just now?" said Milly, somewhat unsteadily. She sounded as if she was trying not to burst out laughing.

This did not improve Nunnally's mood. She said, somewhat peevishly, "I was _swearing_ to try and get someone to rescue me from this _horrible horrible MOOD I'm in!"_

"That was swearing? It sounded more like what a cartoon character on a G-rated show would come out with…" Milly gave up, and laughed out loud.

Nunnally deflated, and said in a small voice, "None of those… were swears?"

"No, Nunnally." Milly's voice became gentler. "They were not swears."

Nunnally's mouth crimped, and without giving any warning, including to herself, she burst into tears.

"Oh, no, Nunnally, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh, I was just… " Milly tried to calm her down, with little success.

"You didn't _mean _to laugh? Milly, I am having one of the worst days of my life! I'm sorry for getting angry with you. But I feel awful, and being laughed at _doesn't help!_" At this, her sobs grew more distressed, and she gave herself over entirely to crying.

* * *

That, thought Milly, most decidedly did _not_ bode well for her siblings, who would, as long as they remained in range of the empathic link, feel all of Nunnally's misery, along with their own. The house would be filled with crying siblings in short order, with only Milly to stave off complete emotional collapse.

Not a fun situation.

Milly made a decided grab for the wheelchair, and rolled Nunnally out into the sunshine. She pushed her all the way to the Academy gates where she hailed her family's limo, folded up Nunnally's chair and stowed it, lifted the still sniffling Nunnally into the back, got in herself, and said, "George – home."

"Yes'm," came a voice from the front.

They drove off, Nunnally's tears drying.

_This is the _second _time I've used the family limo for "personal" reasons in as many days, _thought Milly. _I'm going to get it from Father… _

Suppressing a sigh at the chewing out Father would no doubt give her she turned to Nunnally.

"Are you OK, Nunna-chan? I know what you're going through, and it must really stink if you're reduced to crying because I laughed at you. You're usually _never _that touchy."

Nunnally nodded a couple of times, and gulped down another round of sniffles before answering.

"Yes… I'm okay…"

Milly examined her closely. "Now that I look at you, you really don't look well, Nunna-chan. Have you been eating right?"

"Yes… I've been eating well… it's just… my brothers and sisters are all _simultaneously _downcast and depressed, and I feel it _all_, and I feel like I should be doing something, and I _can't_, and it all makes me feel terrible, and then that gets reflected back to them and makes them feel even _worse!_ It's _never _been this bad! And besides all that, I had to make sure they all ate today, at least something, and look after them all! But I still feel so _useless!_" At this, Nunnally looked like she was about to cry again.

Milly hastily put an arm around her, and hugged her till she got over her momentary hysteria.

"It's all right, Nunna-chan, it's all right. You know what I'm gonna do? I'm going to have you stay over at my house for a little bit, because I don't think it's a good thing for you to be back at your apartment for a while; you shouldn't have to handle your siblings' feelings right now. You can meet my maid, Sayoko. She's nice; I think you'll like her. And I need to see about beating some sense into Lelouch and Cornelia…" She cracked her knuckles menacingly at this last.

Nunnally nodded, looking a little upset at this offhand reference to her siblings, but more cheerful all the same.

"Okay, Milly. Would you take me inside, please?"

"Certainly, princess. I live to serve," Milly answered, adopting a faux-formal tone.

Nunnally giggled a little at that, and Milly picked her up, put her in her wheelchair, and rolled her inside.

_Later._

Nunnally was delighted to meet Sayoko, who immediately took to the girl, and began teaching her origami. As Sayoko guided Nunnally's hands through the motions of making paper cranes, Milly watched the pair contentedly from the couch. Sayoko was certainly the most capable and amiable maid Milly had ever had (and she had had quite a few), and she was rapidly becoming one of Milly's favorite servants, as well as a good friend. Milly _was _a little suspicious of the way Sayoko thought of others; she seemed to see every interaction between males and females in the dirtiest light possible. Even though this bespoke a certain point of view only acquired by covert and persistent voyeurism, Milly didn't mind it that much. It reminded her of her grandfather, after all.

Her contentedness was soon spoiled, however, by the arrival of one of her _least _favorite servants: her father's footman, Aloysius. He embodied everything she didn't like in servants, and had a few nasty surprises of his own to throw in. He was greedy, vain, conniving, lecherous, sycophantic, and all-around unpleasant. She suspected him of voyeurism, too, not as inoffensive as Sayoko's and directed towards her, but fortunately Sayoko had been prudent enough to ensure her mistress's safety from such rude spying. She was quite an accomplished martial artist, and was able to knock him from his perch in the tree across the road before saw anything of importance. He had never forgiven Sayoko for this, and was even now trying to find a way to get her removed.

He gave Sayoko a dirty look as he strolled into the room, even as he smiled greasily at Milly.

"The master wishes to see you, Lady Milliarde. Alone, if you please."

_Uh-oh, here it comes… _thought Milly apprehensively.

"Can't it wait a little, Aloysius? I've got a friend over, as you can see –"

"I'm afraid, Lady Milliarde, that the master wishes to see you _right now._ Regardless of how many _friends – _" he looked down his nose at Nunnally as he said this, no doubt thinking her to be a commoner " – that you have over."

This snide comment nearly drove Milly to attack him. _Ooo, I wonder what he'd do if he knew it was a princess he'd been so rude to… probably die on the spot._ For a split second, she considered telling him that, just to see if he _would _die, but regretfully discarded this idea, because he probably wouldn't believe her. _Shame…_

"All right, Aloysius. Take me to him."

"Excellent, Madam." He led her to her father's study, where her father was working.

Mr. Ashford didn't look up when his daughter entered the room. He was a heavyset man, with thinning hair, and humorless gray eyes. He had never liked his daughter very much, wishing for a son, and the reversal of his fortunes had had an extremely detrimental effect on his relationship with her, such as it was. He saw her, now, as good for nothing more than improving the family's destroyed connections.

He pointed with his pen to a chair in front of his desk, and said curtly, "Sit."

She did so, smoldering. He finished the letter he had been writing, and, putting his pen down, looked at her.

She hated looking at her father. Every time she looked at him, she saw in every line, in every expression, disappointment. He radiated it like a fire radiated heat; he was pleased with nothing, and would not be pleased even if it was perfect. He was determined to be disillusioned, and to find the flaws in everything, and if he could not, to condemn it as impossible and illogical. She felt herself grow more cynical just by being near him, and she, who had inherited her grandfather's optimistic outlook, hated it. The only thing he liked was criticism, and he was _very _good at it.

He directed a flat-eyed stare toward her, and she held it grimly, until he looked away. _Ha._

"Milliarde – " (and that was _another_ thing she hated; he _refused_ to call her Milly) " – have you been successful with _any_ of your matches?"

"No," she said, feeling shame and anger well up.

"No, _sir_."

"No, sir," she repeated tonelessly.

"You know, Milly, the rest of the family is depending on you. We have to have you marry into a family with some consequence. We gave you your childhood; now, you must do us this service and redeem the Ashford name from your grandfather's _culpable _stupidity – "

Rage burned white-hot in her at this slur on Grandpa. _He's a better man than you, you conniving, stiff old sneak._ She said nothing, though; she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of punishing her for talking back.

He didn't notice her fury, and he continued his chastisement.

" – so, if you receive an offer of marriage from _any _quarter, as long as the asker is Earl or higher, then you _will_ accept. Am I understood?"

She nodded, jaw tight.

"Good. Now… I have noticed that you have spent a great deal of time with the banished prince and his sisters these past weeks. I would like you to stop. He is a danger to our name, and we were dragged through the mud on account of his _mother_." He injected a poisonous tone into the last word; he abhorred Empress Marianne for ruining his family's name. "You will cease all contact with him and his sisters; I will not have you risk our return to fortune with unwary fraternization. If you keep this up, I may have to inform the emperor of his continued existence."

That was the last straw. Milly _snapped_.

Suddenly she was on her feet, and her father was eye to eye with her, looking surprised. Sayoko had taught her how to disable a man in the last few weeks, looking suspiciously all the while at Aloysius; punches in certain areas, twisting joints beyond where they were meant to bend. She was very happy to see it worked, although her father was not the best fighter, nor was he in the best of shape.

"You bastard. You _bastard_."

"How dare you! Release me! I demand that you release me at once! I am your father, and will not be treated this way!"

Milly continued, barely hearing her father's commands over the roar in her ears. "You don't care what I want, do you? Or that Lelouch and his sisters need friends? Let me tell you two things. I want to marry _whom _I want_, when _I want! And you are sure as _hell _not going to tell me to stay away from those four! They're all my _friends! _They've been my friends since I was two! And I am not going to give up four friends that I treasure and who treasure me for a man who only cares what _I_ can do for _him_! You're not my father! You've never been my father! You're just a man who made the minimum contribution to give me life, and kept his hands off until he needed something, then thought he could use his contribution like a hammer, to make me do what he needed! Grandpa has been more of a father to me than you _ever _have, or ever could be! And _you – called – him – stupid – you – miserable – old – jackass!_" She punctuated each word with a vicious elbow jab. He grunted at the blows.

She bent down to speak in his ear, lips white. "And if you tell anyone about them - I'll fucking _murder _you! I'll - I'll tell the emperor that you're conspiring against him. See if you survive _that_."

When he had recovered enough to speak, he turned to her, white with rage. His lips looked numb as he said, "You'd treat your father this way? You - you -" He stopped, clearly trying to control himself. He began again, in a monotonous voice. "You are no daughter of mine. Get out. I disown you. When you see the Ashfords ascendant – you'll know – you'll know what you've missed. If I see you then – I'll not recognize you, even if you beg your hardest. I'll get you and that senile old fool who somehow fathered your mother _out of this family _before you can do any more harm – and I'll get his money as well, I hope. I know I can put it to better use. In any case, I hope you enjoy your prince and princesses. They're all you'll have. Now take your foul nursemaid and that cripple and _GET. OUT. OF. MY. HOUSE!" _

He lost control at last, and began roaring incoherently at Milly, his dislike turned to utter hatred. A tiny bit of fear fluttered in her chest at the instability, but her anger was stronger, much stronger. It actually gave her a kind of detached pleasure to watch the man that she had thought the picture of calm indifference and noble detachment completely break down at his daughter's rebellion. But even though she was pleased she had broken his composure, what she really felt… was freedom.

_The door to my cage was open all this time, and I never realized. I never realized it would be so easy to break out._

_Now... now... I'm free._ It was a thought to celebrate.

She turned her back on her father's fury, and went to tell Sayoko and Nunnally that they were leaving.

_Later._

"But, Milly, why would you leave your family for us? We don't want you to be hurt because of us! Please, if it'll help, go back and tell him that you'll never see us again! It's all right! We'd get along fine without you… maybe…"

Nunnally's doubtful ending to this speech did not help her case, and, anyway, there was no possible circumstance that could convince Milly back into the arms of the Ashfords. She was free from familial responsibility for the first time in her life, and she was _enjoying _it.

_So this is what it feels like to be a commoner… Not bad._

Of course, her outburst and dismissal would probably bring a world of trouble down on Grandpa's head, but he was trouble personified when he wanted to be. He could certainly handle his straight-laced son-in-law and his budget lawyers all by himself, and Milly was going to ensure that he was guarded day and night to stave off the possibility of "unfortunate accidents".

_Hmmm… I bet Sayoko would be willing to guard him. I kind of wanted her to stay with me though…_

_Wait a minute. I just got kicked out of my house. I probably can't live in my dorm all the time, and I don't think Grandpa has room for me._

_So… where do I stay?!_

Milly did _not_ want to end up on a bench with newspapers piled on top of her. That would be embarrassing as well as unpleasant, and she was pretty sure she'd get molested. Nunnally, apparently following the same train of thought she was, said, a little diffidently, "Well, Milly… if you're sure that you don't want to go back home… would you like to stay with us?"

Milly, surprised, said, "Are you sure that you can accommodate me? Your apartment isn't that much bigger than a few dorm rooms together; I've seen it. And I am _not _a very good roommate…"

Nunnally giggled at that. "Oh, don't worry, Milly. I'm sure Nii-sama, Nee-sama, and sister Euphie will be delighted to have you." Her face clouded a little, and she frowned. "If they ever get out of their funk… though it does seem to be a little better now."

Milly considered the offer. It really wasn't bad; she would be spending more time with the siblings like Grandpa had suggested, she would help them out of whatever trouble they were in easier closer to them, and best of all, she would have more opportunities to embarrass Lelouch!

She smiled at the girl, then remembered she was blind, and said, somewhat hurriedly, "Yes! All right, Nunnally! I'll accept your delightful offer! Expect me in about half an hour, I need to get my stuff from my dorm; I think Sayoko got the rest." _Out from under Aloysius's thieving hands, probably..._

Her mood was exuberant. Today was the _first _day of the rest of her life.

Wow, _that phrase is cliched. Ah, well. It feels... apt._

She smiled beatifically. _Guess who's coming to stay, Lelouch!_

* * *

"We're having _who _stay over?!"

Euphemia, roused from her gloom, unsuccessfully tried to calm Lelouch, even as she giggled at his horror and surprise. "Now, now, Lelouch, it's not so bad… It might even be helpful! You and I will both be on the student council soon, and having the President live with us will speed things up a lot!"

_No, no, no, oh, no! Why?! Why does the universe do this to me? First I get Euphemia eavesdropping, and now Milly as a semi-permanent tenant! I'm going to have to start locking my door… not that that will stop her…_

_Oh, well. It's too late now, I suppose. And at least Euphemia's cheered up. That makes me feel better about… what I did._

It didn't help a lot, though.

"Okay, Lelouch, let's go down and show her the place!"

"Why? She's been here before!"

"Ye-es," said Euphemia, somewhat sanctimoniously, "but she wasn't a boarder_ then_. She is now, and therefore, we need to show her around." Without waiting for an answer, she bolted downstairs.

Lelouch groaned, and followed his sister. She was completely insufferable when she got into one of these moods; it made him, for one, want to hide in his room. Cornelia got a funny smile on her face whenever she saw Euphie so exuberant, though. Her face seemed transformed by joy whenever she saw her little sister so joyful, as if Euphemia was the conduit by which Cornelia experienced the world, and she was paralyzed by such happiness.

As he walked downstairs, he thought, a little pensively, _Nunnally is precious to me for very much the same reason; the only way I see good in the world is through her. _But that wasn't entirely true, he realized. _Euphemia's been bleeding into my thoughts a great deal lately; she helps me see light as well._ He wasn't sure how he felt about that; he had come to think of his devotion to Nunnally and his desire for revenge against his mother's killers as the only things keeping him on the path he had started down. _If I have too many ties to the world, I'm not sure I'll be able to leave it when the time comes. And I must. The world does not need another warmonger. Cornelia has taught me that much in her classes, at least. I wonder if she thinks the same way? _His sister was a counterpart to him in many ways; was this one more? _We are both royal, both chosen, both vengeful, both adoring a sister… both destined to die? Perhaps…_

He was shaken from these heavy thoughts by a sudden engulfment in a great deal of Milly. He thanked his lucky stars that he wasn't shorter, or he would be suffocating right now.

"Hi, Lulu! Guess who!"

"…President?"

"Now, Lulu," Milly scolded, "if I'm going to live in your house, you're going to start calling me Milly _all the time, _got it?"

"W-what?! You can't order me around in my own house!" _Wait. That's idiotic. She always orders me around._

_Has someone been giving me stupid pills lately?_

Milly smirked over her shoulder at him as she carried her bags inside. "Our house, now, Lulu! By the way, where should I stay…? In your room, Lulu? I know it very well… the bed especially…"

Lelouch, sputtering as his sisters roared with laughter, followed her with more bags…

And thus, Milliarde Ashford became a tenant at the Vili.

* * *

Nina was a little worried.

The rumors going around school were the wildest she had ever heard: Milly being disowned and thrown from her house, the Lamperouges and Langenrosas being related somehow, a secret tryst between Miss Cornelia and an unnamed student (gender uncertain: Miss Cornelia's orientation was a hot topic of gossip, given her relationship with her sister and refusal of dates; Nina did not usually join in), and the grand finale, the one that had her worried, a Number who served in the irregulars was enrolling in Ashford Academy.

She was friends with some Numbers; she had even collaborated with a few on a study of superconductor properties a few years back. But those were people she knew, people she trusted from years of communication and steady friendship. Nina was afraid of people she didn't know, and the rumored new student being a Number didn't help matters. Every time she saw an Eleven she didn't know she was set on edge until they went away. As just being outside frayed her nerves, she preferred to talk to people through the protective screen of her computer, or not talk to them at all. She was a solitary creature by nature, and although she had a few people she treasured above herself, she rarely, if ever, saw them. She kept herself busy, with schoolwork, with learning, and with her "project". She wanted to change the world, she had sacrificed most of her young life to it, and she thought the trade was more than fair.

_Maybe I don't have to worry… Maybe he'll be nice…_

She was praying that he would be, because she needed no distractions at this stage. She was too close to her goal.

She worked on, late into the night, and into the morning. When Milly walked in, looking for the student council schedule master copy (she needed a new one), she found her asleep at her computer. Milly closed her program, and carried her to her bed. After tucking her in, she said, quietly, "Sleep well, little genius."

Then she went to get a copy out of Lelouch.

* * *

_One day later._

Cornelia chalked up the words "Military Advances Since the Discovery of Sakuradite in 1863" up on the board, and underlined it with a sweeping motion. "Well, class, here's your essay topic. Anyone surprised?" A chorus of groans met her statement; she laughed, and scolded, "Oh, come on now, you must have seen this coming; we haven't had an essay week for an entire _month_!" From the back, Euphemia and Lelouch gave her dirty looks; Euphemia hated writing essays, especially ones on military history, and Lelouch hated having to exert himself toward something other than on their work with the Shinjuku Group. _Well, isn't that just too bad, _thought Cornelia, giving them a sunny smile. _Guess you won't be making the plans for the next raid, Lelouch. It's my turn and you know it._

As the class heaved out their notebooks and began to examine their textbooks desperately for any information on "Military Advances Since the Discovery of Sakuradite in 1863", there was a knock at the door. One of the students opened it, and another student, clearly serving messenger duties, walked in and handed a note to Cornelia. "Thank you," she said, somewhat surprised. She hadn't heard that anything was happening today; but then, she was rather out of the loop, having missed the last two staff meetings, and even then, the student council was not the most predictable of bodies, even at the best of times. Milly was very… _spontaneous_ with her ideas, and tended to implement them without warning.

That aside, the note didn't look like it originated from student council hijinks. Cornelia looked it over. It read: _New student coming to your class. He's an Honorary Britannian serving in the irregulars, so prepare your students for him._

As her eyes rose from the paper, she saw the door open again.

A brown-haired, green-eyed teenager walked into the room.

He looked a little nervously at the class, and said, in a timid voice, "Hello, I'm Suzaku Kururugi. I recently enrolled here. Where shall I sit?"

It was fortunate that all of the students were either engaged with their essay preparations or with staring at the newcomer, because had any of them chanced a glance at their teacher, or two of her pupils, they would have seen the same elated, thunderstruck look on their faces.

Three minds had one thought:

_He's alive!_

_Chapter 5 – Arrivals_

_Consumo._

Author's Note: Finally, Suzaku appears! (Okay, I know that we saw him in the first chapter in the Lancelot, but that was a _in medias res_ opening, and this is before that chronologically.) But anyway, I promise he will feature much more in the story from now on. In fact, he's going to have a prominent part in the next two chapters, along with Lelouch and his three sisters. The next two chapters I think I will release together, as the next one will be a flashback, and it's kind of a gyp just to give you a flashback chapter, and I think it's high time for a battle chapter. So the next update may take a little longer. Thanks for reading, as always. Stay shiny!


	6. Intervallum: Tempus Fugit I

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters presented in this fiction, except one. All characters aside from Ulrike are the property of Sunrise.

Time is a most fascinating device, a most interesting concept. When you're going through it, it seems torturously slow, but when you're out of it, on the other side, it seems to have been very quick and easy. It's what makes life so unbearable; it's so slow while you're in it, you waste your time doing things you wouldn't do again, given the chance, and when you're through, you marvel at how you haven't done anything you really dreamed of doing, saying, "Where has the time gone?" It's such a _miserable_ paradox.

- Excerpt from a speech given by Oscar Wilde to the Royal Society on his ninety-fifth birthday; _The Great Speakers, Vol. XI. _Hubbard. Canasta Printers. 1973.

THE STRANGER, THE SAINT, THE HORN, AND THE WORD

_Intervallum: Tempus Fugit_

(Pause: Time Flies)

_Part One - Beginnings_

_Incipio._

_**The Voice of Akasha speaks:**_

_**The time approaches when all must be revealed… and though we cannot halt its coming, we can prepare you who read this tale by arming you with the knowledge you need to see clearly and judge rightly… Look now, and listen…**_

_Seven years ago. Japan. Outside Tokyo, near Meiji Shrine._

* * *

Cornelia looked around, but she didn't see anything.

She only felt.

She felt the stares of the Japanese people, her magenta hair and her pale skin drawing their eyes as if she was some terrible monster invading their homeland.

She felt the weight of responsibility tripled, from one sibling to three, all her charges, and all depending on her to get them out alive.

She felt the horrible emptiness that Empress Marianne had once filled.

Most of all, she felt the weight of her dearest, her most wonderful, her only joy; her sister Euphemia, dozing while she was carried through temple paths on Cornelia's back, safe and secure while she snuggled closer.

And that weight – the knowledge that Euphemia could be killed because of what she had done in Father's presence – pressed down on her like a vise, like the weight of a planet, that she, Cornelia, would not be able to protect her as Marianne had protected all of them in Pendragon, that she, Cornelia, might be forced to live on even if her reason for living was dead.

It didn't just terrify her; it reduced her to a petrifying, paranoid impotence, one composed of clenched teeth and hasty glances, glances that saw Britannian assassins in every shadow and Japanese nationalists behind every corner; her pupils dilated, she scuttled, almost like an insect, from place to place, with Lelouch tailing her at a safe distance, carrying her precious cargo to what _might_ be safety.

A hand touched her shoulder. She inhaled sharply, but she only heard Lelouch's voice saying, into her ear, "Calm down. We'll be okay, Cor. I'm sure you know what you're doing, and I _can _help, you know. A little, at least."

She looked around, and he caught her eye. His violet eyes looked as calm as hers were not.

"Let's save the worrying until we're out of the open, okay? If you worry too much _now_, you won't have enough energy for worrying _later_!"

She half-smiled at this, and slowly began to take his advice. By the time they reached their house, she had remembered her composure, and was as sure as ever when Euphie woke up again.

They all took care to describe the scenery to little Nunnally, especially Euphemia, who loved Nunnally dearly. Her descriptions were perhaps not the most accurate, but they certainly had a lot of heart behind them. Nunnally giggled at Euphemia's exuberance in describing the house they eventually arrived at, and all three smiled at that.

"Hey!"

A boy was walking up the hill, a boy in a… _yukata_, was it called? He looked mean; angry with the four for… what? _Wait… he's Japanese. We're Britannian, very obviously. Hmm. Not good._

"What are _you _doing h-here?" the boy asked coldly, faltering a little when he caught Cornelia's eye.

Lelouch started to respond angrily, but Cornelia held up a hand, and he stopped. Cornelia slowly turned, and gave the boy (who was around the same age as her brother: ten) the full force of her fifteen-year-old gaze. "We are emissaries of political goodwill sent from Britannia; the Second, Third, and Seventeenth Princesses, along with the Eleventh Prince. We were told that this was where we would be staying. Who are you, and why are _you _here?"

The boy had quailed under the steel of Cornelia's eye, but sprang back up to his former defiance with the recital of his appellation: "I'm Suzaku, Suzaku Kururugi, only son of the Prime Minister of Japan; I'm here to meet the Britannian delegation! But it doesn't matter what we do, how polite we are; you Britannians are all liars! Liars and cheaters who'll never be worthy to walk on the sacred ground of Japan!"

Lelouch couldn't hold his tongue back any longer. "Oh, so we're all liars and cheaters, are we? Well, I don't think the "sacred ground of Japan" even deserves to be walked on by the Holy Empire of Britannia; we're doing you a huge favor by just being here! You're all _savages_!"

At that, Kururugi roared in fury; he flew at Lelouch like a lion; Lelouch dropped Nunnally to keep her out of the line of fire. It was soon clear that Kururugi was no novice when it came to fighting. He had Lelouch on the defensive in a couple of seconds.

Cornelia thought, wryly, as Lelouch began to get pummeled in earnest, _I should probably teach Lelouch how to fight, because he has no idea what he's doing right now…_ And sure enough, in less than a minute, Lelouch was on the ground, trying to fight back while still shielding himself from the other boy's snake-fast blows.

"All right, that's enough. Stop hitting my brother, Kururugi, or I'll have to hurt you."

He paid her no attention, and she was in a karate stance in an instant, and had Kururugi on the ground in another instant. Using her superior age and experience against him wasn't exactly fair, but she _had_ given him a warning.

He squirmed under her hold, and looked up at her with defiance, anger, and a hint of… wonder? "You're the only girl that's ever been able to knock me down," he said, a touch admiringly.

"Yes, yes, that's all very well, but you need to stop hitting my brother. All right? I _will _knock you unconscious the next time you attack one of us, and I suspect that would simply create more trouble for both of us. So would you mind just leaving us alone? We won't bother you if you don't bother – _Lelouch,_" she said, finishing with a warning as her younger brother opened his mouth to fan the flames.

"Okay," Kururugi said agreeably, although she suspected he would be back anyway; his mannerisms bespoke him an only child, and it seemed likely, as the son of the prime minister, that he didn't have many children his own age to play with. It was no matter that he didn't like the newcomers, he would come back.

_Urrrg… I'm not a babysitter! I can't look after four children at once!_

It looked like she didn't have a choice, but at least Nunnally wouldn't be too much trouble, and might even act as a civilizing force on the others. _I guess that's one advantage of Nunnally's blindness… _she thought, a little blackly.

There weren't many others, though. Seeing the little girl who had never run out of energy transformed into this quiet and introspective creature was unsettling, and on some levels horrifying. _I hope those killers rot in the deepest hell the Lord can throw them into, _she thought savagely. No one_ should have to deal with their mother being killed, being blinded and crippled, and being banished from their nation within a _year_, let alone a few _weeks _– and she's only _seven_! _

_Oh, I can't deal with this! _

_But I have to, I suppose._

She allowed herself one sigh as Kururugi's form faded into the trees, and began chivvying her siblings into their new "home".

She didn't notice, but as she shouldered the burden of responsibility for all four, Nunnally began crying silently.

She had felt her sister's anger and resolve.

So much for secret suffering.

* * *

Suzaku was very happy as he ran down through the woods to the car that waited for him. Finally, someone who could put up a fight besides Tōdō! That girl was amazing!

He schooled his face to calmness as his guards approached to take him into the car. He was helped into the vehicle, and it began to move smoothly toward the Prime Minister's residence. He sat demurely, not showing any emotion to the guards, as a true child of Japan would (which his father often reminded him of), but his thoughts still flowed on.

_Well, that boy was completely worthless, whoever he was… he can't fight at all! And the two other girls, they didn't even try to fight me! What was wrong with that one girl, the one who the boy was carrying? She looked like she was asleep or something. But, wow, I really got destroyed by that big girl! She's so cool! Forget not going back there again, I've gotta see if I can beat her! Maybe I can also make fun of the other boy… he doesn't look like he's good for much else… At least he's a chance to get some of our own back from the Brits._

He dropped it all from his mind, though, when he saw who was coming to receive him. His father.

He quickly took inventory of his appearance in the car window. Nothing out of place. He ran a hand through his hair and over his face. No stains or messy hair. Good.

His father loved him, he knew, but he didn't like his son to appear slovenly.

The car slowed, and halted. A guard opened the door, and he carefully got out, and bowed to his father. His speech turned formal.

"Father. Hello."

"Hello, my son."

His father nodded to the guards, and they stepped into formation around their leader and his son. "So," said Genbu Kururugi, "did you have a good time at the temple with Tōdō? I hear from him that you are progressing well in your studies. Already a high purple belt in karate? Very well done, Suzaku, very well done."

Suzaku beamed at this praise. He had worked very hard to achieve his belt, and he was glad his father appreciated it. "Yes, father. Tōdō said that I could leave early, because I had mastered most of the exercises. Guess what happened next?"

"What happened?"

"I met a boy with three girls! They said they were Britannians, or something like that, but do you know what one of them did, Father? One of them managed to beat me in a fight!"

His father frowned as they entered the doors of the Prime Minister's residence. "The boy managed to beat you? You, a high purple? Was he a black belt, do you think?"

"No, father, it wasn't the boy," corrected Suzaku, somewhat insulted when he remembered the boy's terrible fighting style. "It was one of the girls."

His father's frown deepened, and Suzaku sensed that this had not been well received. "Why don't you come with me into the parlor, and we can discuss it there?" Suzaku bowed again, and his father waved off the guards as the two of them stepped into the spacious parlor. It had a few sofas in the Britannian style, but other than that, nothing foreign intruded here. Woodcut illustrations decorated the walls, with _The Great Wave off Kanagawa _taking prominence. The floor was tatami under woven rugs; the room could not be described as anything other than distinctly _Japanese_; not Chinese or Britannian, which was how most nations looked these days, but its own flavor. Enough to stir any Japanese man or woman's heart. Suzaku was happy to see it hadn't changed in the three hours he'd been away from home.

Although, from the way things were going, it might be all Britannian soon.

He quickly turned his attention to his father as Father turned to talk to him.

"Suzaku. Did I hear you right out there? A _girl _beat you? A _Britannian _girl?"

"Yes, Father. I was very surprised! Really, only Tōdō is actually a challenge for me in martial arts now, so for her to –"

"Suzaku! You are taking this _far _too cavalierly! You should have more pride in your Japanese heritage!"

Suzaku shrunk under his father's disapproval. "Did… did I not do well, Father? She was older than me, and very strong. She… she might even be better than _Tōdō_. I couldn't stand up to her, Father…"

His father growled, and ran a hand through his gray hair. "That's as may be, but next time, please _wait_ to tell me something potentially embarrassing like this until _after _we are secluded. I do not need you to help the Britannians make us look like bigger fools than they already do…"

"Yes, Father…"

Father relaxed somewhat. "All right, then; be more careful next time."

"Yes, Father."

"So, tell me about these boys and girls." He seemed to be genuinely interested in them, as _anyone _who could defeat his son in unarmed combat was a remarkable rarity.

"Well, I didn't get a really good look at them, but they had light-colored skin, and weird hair colors. The boy I was talking about and the girl he was carrying just had black and brown hair, but the other two had pink and purple hair. Oh yeah, and all of them had purple eyes… I think. The little brown-haired girl never opened hers, so I couldn't tell."

His father looked surprised. "Oh, then you must have met the four royals who were sent here by their father as a "peace offering". Pah! It's clear he means to sacrifice them. Not that we won't oblige him if he invades; they deserve it, the filthy, stuck-up, elitist pigs…"

Suzaku enthusiastically agreed with this tirade, and the rest of the conversation passed amicably. After about half an hour, Suzaku was sent to bed, with the firm knowledge that he would see his country's revenge acted out on the children.

But just before he fell asleep, a thought occurred to him: _They seemed… scared. They played tough, but they were scared. Even the big girl._

This unsettled him; he didn't sleep well that night.

_The next morning._

Suzaku awoke suddenly; the light seemed to filter down into his eyes and invade his brain, arresting his dream in which he led the armies of Japan to a glorious victory over the world, and rescued… _someone_, a girl, whose face he couldn't remember, from Britannia's evil clutches. It had been _excellent_!

He felt cheerful as he came downstairs, and seeing his father at the breakfast table in like spirits further brightened his mood.

"Good morning, Suzaku! Have you heard the news? The European Union is promising military support if Britannia invades! I managed to get them to put that on the bargaining table in return for an increase on the export quota of Sakruadite. Tensions are beginning to build in the Western Hemisphere, and I think they want to have their hands on as much Sakuradite as possible."

"That's great, Father!"

His father smiled widely. "Yes, it is, isn't it? I hardly needed to raise the quota by more than a thousand kilos; they're easily satisfied. They wanted me to cut the quota to Britannia, though; that's going to have to be approached carefully." His father frowned. "They will _not _be pleased if I cut their quota any more; they're already on the short end."

"Oh, just cut it, Father! With the EU's help, I'm sure we'll be able to beat any attack that those stinking Brits can throw at us! We have three full battalions of Artemis-class tanks, and six flights of Hephaestus-class bombers! They can't beat that, especially as we know the land better than they do!"

His father did not look pleased. Suzaku shrunk a little in his seat.

"A-am I wrong, Father?"

His father ignored the question. "Suzaku, what is the first rule of warfare? Didn't Tōdō teach them to you?"

Suzaku, red-faced, muttered, "The first rule of warfare is, 'Always assume the enemy has superior firepower.'"

"Correct. Now, what was the problem with your statement?"

Suzaku didn't meet his father's eyes as he answered. "I assumed that we could defeat the Britannians with our own military and the help from the EU."

"Again, correct. Now, let me correct that perception. We are currently on the edge of open warfare. As you know, Britannia relies almost solely on Sakuradite because of its abilities. It has a few mines in its territories, but they are nowhere near enough to satisfy its massive population. Therefore, it must trade with other countries to achieve its needed amounts. We are their largest supplier. If I were to abruptly drop the quota once more, when they already are unhappy about the previous cuts, I guarantee that it will lead to war. We are not strong enough yet to put up a fight, and I have a bad feeling about this project that our spies report on; if they've designed a more reliable Knightmare, we could be in for a great deal of trouble, even if we bring our forces to maximum ebb, which by itself will take several months. We have to tread lightly, Suzaku, and quietly improve our defenses so that giving us forces won't be a losing battle. The EU may not aid us if we are as weak as we are now. So be careful about what you say; you are my son, and I will not have you saying such foolishness around anyone who it would make a difference to. If you say something like this in my hearing again, you will be punished. Am I understood?"

The color had drained from Suzaku's face; he looked close to tears, though of course crying would only increase his father's contempt. He nodded, trying to keep his face even.

"Good. I believe you have a lesson with General Tōdō at the temple again today? See if you can find out more about those four. You may enlighten me later."

His father swept from the room without another word.

_A few hours later._

* * *

After Cornelia had guided her siblings inside, she had inspected the house in which they were staying. It was a real piece of work; the walls weren't insulated, the roof leaked, the doors wouldn't close all the way, the floors had something growing on them, and the beds' creaking had so scared Euphemia that she insisted on all of them sleeping in one bed. This had made for a rough night for Cornelia; while her siblings could cuddle up to her, she was hemmed in on all sides, and couldn't move without displacing a small body. Her uncomfortable position had not granted her much sleep, and it was with red eyes and many yawns that she greeted the new day. Her siblings looked rested, though, so that was all right. She shanghaied Lelouch into helping her cook breakfast, and although he complained a little, he didn't look too disinclined to help. He had always been indolent in Pendragon, preferring to play games with his sister rather than focus on his studies, or any practical lessons – though of course, his intelligence had not suffered; he did not need to study. Now, however, with an axe over all their heads, he no doubt felt he needed to help.

While they got out the necessaries, Lelouch said, somewhat offhandedly, "Uh, Cor? Would you mind… teaching me how to fight?"

Cornelia grinned as she turned on the burners. "Would you believe, I was thinking the exact same. Yes, Lelouch, I will – I _insist _– on teaching you to fight. We can't have you losing another fistfight to that Kururugi boy."

Lelouch's face lit up. "Really? You mean it?"

Cornelia smirked. "When we were living in Pendragon, you would have groaned when you heard I was going to give you a lesson, and you would have tried your hardest to _avoid _it, not _ask_ for it. But being whipped seems to have taught you a lesson, eh?"

"Thanks a ton, Cor." Lelouch grimaced at her, and took the plates to the rickety table.

Cornelia chuckled as she began to fry bacon and eggs. _The fastest way to a _man's _heart may be through his stomach, but the fastest way to _Lelouch's _is through his ego._ She laughed aloud at that, causing a returning Lelouch to scowl at her. He stuck out his tongue at her, she returned the favor (not very mature, but she couldn't be perfect), and called upstairs for Euphie, while Lelouch got Nunnally.

_Later._

"No, Lelouch… that's not how you throw a punch. Put your first two knuckles out – like this, see? Put your other fist at your waist, ready to punch. No, not like that. Okay, there we go. Now, try again. Better. Keep trying."

She could see that Lelouch was already sweating. He wasn't used to this kind of exertion.

"When will I get to fight someone? All we've been doing is drills…"

Cornelia's mouth twitched. "You wanna fight me?"

Lelouch put up his fists. "Yeah, okay! Sure!"

Cornelia laughed out loud. "Lelouch, you couldn't even hold your own against Kururugi, and I took him down in five seconds! I think you need to practice a little more before I fight you."

Lelouch drooped. "Aw, Cor…"

"You need to master the basics before you start fighting people for real. I had to, same as anyone else. Give me a roundhouse kick, come on."

He obliged, though grudgingly.

They had been working for almost three hours, and Lelouch was exhausted, when Cornelia spotted someone coming through the trees.

"Oh, no. That Kururugi kid's back again… Lelouch, go inside. I don't want you to get into another fight."

"B-but… I can… fight… him now…" said Lelouch, still panting from his exertions.

Cornelia gave him a look, and pointed toward the house; he subsided and headed inside, grumbling.

Cornelia folded her arms and waited for Kururugi to come closer. He walked up, looking a little wary, but also a little excited. She waited for him to speak, and he did so.

"Your little brother really sucks at fighting."

"So did I, when I first started – and so did you, I'm betting."

The boy puffed out his chest. "Actually, I'm a fighting prodigy. Tōdō said so."

Cornelia sighed, and rubbed her forehead. "What are you doing here, Kururugi? Like I said, I'll knock you unconscious if you try to attack us again. If you hate us so much, what's the point in coming here to bother us?"

He gave her a glare. "My father told me to spy on you while I play with you, and give the information to him."

"Well, great job, genius. Now I'll have to tell you all about our secret plan to subvert the Japanese Empire with our zero political status and thousands of nonexistent troops. Ooo, you're _such _a good spy! Take me! Take me right here!"

He frowned. "What does that mean?"

She sighed again. "Never mind. It was sarcasm."

He shook off her humor, and began, "So…"

"So what?"

"Um… I… uh…" He seemed to be having trouble spitting out what he wanted to say. "Well, I… I kinda _would _like to play with you guys. I don't have a ton of other people to play with… so I guess you'll have to do for now, until I get some better people to play with…"

Cornelia raised her eyebrows, and said, coolly, "Well, _that's _a charming way of asking. Ready for your career in diplomacy?" She saw his mouth opening to ask her what she meant, and quickly cut him off, saying, "Never mind, more sarcasm. But seriously, there is _no way _I'm going to let you play with my siblings if you're going to be as unkind as you were yesterday. Sorry." She turned away.

The strains of anger and disappointment were loud in his voice as he yelled after her, "Fine! I didn't _really _want to play with any of you anyway! I was just testing how ungracious Britannians could be! Boy, did _you _fail!"

Cornelia kept walking. She felt bad for the boy – it was difficult to not have anyone to play with who was your age (she had experienced the same in Pendragon), but her siblings had to come first; she didn't want Nunnally to be hurt, and she'd be damned if she let him within a mile of Euphemia with his attitude.

But that didn't stop her from being ashamed that she couldn't deal well with him.

_I hate babysitting._

* * *

Suzaku sloped away sulkily from the main temple grounds after Cornelia's dismissal. He had never been denied a friend in his life; most people were eager to be friends with him, wanting to get in with the Prime Minister through his son. That never worked, of course; Suzaku wasn't desperate enough to take a toady friend, and it wouldn't affect his father either way; his father didn't pay attention to Suzaku's friends. He had Tōdō as a friend, he was sure he did; Tōdō was too sincere to be a false friend. But this! This time he had been turned down unequivocally, with prejudice, because of the way he had behaved toward the siblings. He had tried to lie to himself, saying he hadn't _really _wanted their company anyway (just as he had done with Cornelia), but he knew that it was a lie, and that only blackened his foul mood. The feelings of anger, dismay, pride, shame, and oddly, betrayal, were stirred into a nasty mix, and Suzaku felt a low point coming. He hated it when his depression took over; it made him feel weak, and his father certainly thought it made him weak. He had to _do _something, fast, or he would be miserable for the rest of the day.

A solution occurred. _Ha! That's it. I'll follow them around and spy on them like Father asked me too; it'll serve them right for not playing with me. Maybe Father will execute them if they're doing something bad…_

He felt, oddly, not very happy at this predicted outcome. In fact, it just made him feel worse. This did not improve his mood.

He set out, muttering darkly, to tail the big girl to the house.

* * *

The day passed by slowly, but happily for Cornelia. She and her siblings seemed to have been given a reprieve; no one came to bother them that day. Even through this haze of goodwill, Cornelia retained an unsettling feeling that she was being watched. This made her more than a little jumpy, but eventually Euphemia's persistent questions forced her to stop. After dinner, the four tried to think of something to do. Hide and seek was out of the question; the house was mostly devoid of extraneous furniture. There were no board games in the house, not even a deck of cards, which meant that they were mostly stuck for something to do. Lelouch suggested they play Tag, which was met with enthusiasm from his younger sisters, but less from his elder. She pulled him aside for a moment and whispered in his ear, on which his eyes widened and he quickly retracted his proposal.

Euphemia, although she was a little sulky at not being able to play Tag, suggested, somewhat halfheartedly, that they tell stories. All three of the others were delighted at this; everyone, even Nunnally, could participate fully in this, and they were none of them bad storytellers, although the three younger siblings' stories did tend to feature protagonists that bore a shocking similarity to them (Lelouch more so than Nunnally or Euphemia).

Euphemia, robbed of her sulkiness by her siblings' enthusiasm, demanded to go first because it had been her suggestion; although she looked a little strange when she said it. Although Lelouch was rather eyeing Nunnally, he went along with Cornelia's smiling surrender, and Euphemia began to tell her story.

"Once upon a time, there was a little girl named… um…"

Lelouch sighed, but Cornelia kept listening. Even though Euphemia's stories were a little self-centered, Cornelia loved listening to them.

"…ummm… Eurellia! Yeah, that's it. And she had an older sister named… uh… Cordelia!"

Predictable. Devoted as she was to her sister, Euphemia could not but include her in the story.

"The sisters lived in a treacherous palace when they were little, but they were looked after by a fairy queen who protected them, and her son and daughter. They were very happy with them. They stayed this way for a long time."

This was beginning to sound familiar. Cornelia looked worriedly at Lelouch and Nunnally. Lelouch's face had gone blank. Nunnally's face was filled with sadness. Euphemia looked a little apprehensive, and looked over at Lelouch for confirmation to go on; although his face remained blank, he nodded.

"Then… the worst possible thing happened. An enemy in the palace murdered the fairy queen. The daughter was crippled, and the son was grieved beyond belief. And the sisters? Cordelia knew –" here she looked toward Cornelia " – that without her protection, the sisters would surely be eaten alive in days. Eurellia was too scared to do anything but cling to her sister's skirts. But when Cordelia's rage and grief finally broke, and she asked in torment, why had the son and daughter been left to die?, Eurellia gathered up her meager courage, and followed the son when he went to face his father. She would add her strength to his; maybe it would help."

Another quick, scared, glance toward Lelouch and Nunnally.

"It failed, and in one swift stroke, all four of the children were sent to a faraway land where their sacrifices would go unheard, and they would die quietly. But – but – Eurellia couldn't have done anything but what she did to help the son. She had no choice! Even though she felt it was her fault…"

Cornelia opened her mouth to stop her. This had gone too far.

Euphemia cut her off before she could start. "But – she wanted to thank the son and daughter – thank them for protecting us, I mean, them, protecting them and loving them, until all was lost. And she wanted to say… that she was… sorry…"

The transparent story fell apart at last as Euphemia broke into tears, quiet, desperate ones. The blankness on Lelouch's face broke, and it gave way to gratitude and pity. He crawled over and gave her a hug. "I don't blame you for any of this, Euphemia; it's most certainly _not _your fault. I think Father would have banished us whatever you did. The only thing that happened because of it is you and Cornelia were banished as well… that was my fault. I should have stopped you, said I made you say that…"

"No," said Cornelia unexpectedly. "I'm glad that we were all banished together. Yes, we might have been more comfortable and maybe better treated in Pendragon, but I think Euphemia – and myself as well – would rather die with you, rather than begin to die inside as we burned with guilt over your deaths and our failure to take action, and gradually became husks of what we were. No. Though it has had such a vile consequence, if you could not have held back about your mother, Lelouch, then we should be with you. It would be impossible for us to love her as much as you did, but we loved her too." Cornelia's throat seized; she choked back tears at the probing of such a fresh wound.

The uneasiness and apprehension that had been holding them just a little apart from each other dissolved, and they began to console each other. The love and affection was almost tangible. Cornelia felt it all. She was amazed, proud of Euphemia for her courage and eloquence, and sympathized and loved her for her emotion. She felt, in a smaller degree, Lelouch's pain over both Marianne's death and Nunnally's crippled state, and tried to aid him as best she could. She felt Nunnally's overwhelming, overflowing love; fierce and protective (protective? How did she, Cornelia, know that?), like a wall of fire surrounding all of them, but especially her brother. It burned white hot around him, and it was reciprocated. The same seemed to be true for Cornelia and Euphemia.

_Wait a minute… how can I see all this? Or am I just imagining it?_

_I – I must be imagining it…_

The odd moment was soon forgotten as she submerged herself in the moment again, and gave herself over entirely to loving her siblings.

It was one of the most perfect moments in her fifteen-year-old life.

She lost herself in love, and had no reason – for a while – to find herself again.

* * *

He stood outside the window.

His eyes drank thirstily of the scene, of the bonds between the siblings, and the love that flowed between all of them.

And he wanted it. He desired that love so much he could taste it.

But he couldn't have it. And he knew; he knew that his father would never give it to him.

He felt like crying.

_What can I do?_

The thought of his father killing them for being Britannian occurred again; only now, he felt not a vague discomfort, but a pressing, paralyzing, terrifying fear that his father would carry out his threat.

_Nothing like that should be destroyed. It should be kept._

He realized, as he began to formulate, almost subconsciously, a plan to befriend them, to protect them, that he was now a traitor. But that mattered a great deal less than it had a few minutes ago. All that had seemed important was fading into the background, with the four faces of the royals becoming clearer and clearer.

Just then, the big girl glanced out the window, and saw him. Rage, barely controlled at this interruption by the rude outsider (for _he_ was the outsider here) boiled up in her previously serene features; she suppressed it, and saying, "I'll be back in a moment." to her now worried siblings, who had sensed her fury, she quickly made her way outside.

"Kururugi. What are you doing here? How dare you try and spy on us when we have done nothing deserving of such attentions? Get back to your father at once, and bear this tale back to him: I don't care that he hates us, we have diplomatic immunity as long as Britannia is at peace with –"

Suzaku cut her off. "Excuse me, what's your name?"

She responded, a little disdainfully, "What? Why would I tell you my name when you've been spying on us? Don't your little lackeys already tell you everything about us?"

Suzaku shook his head. "Please, just tell me your name."

She frowned, clearly thrown by this show of decorum. "…It's Cornelia, if you must know. Cornelia li Britannia, Second Princess of Britannia."

"All right. Cornelia." He dropped to one knee. "I'm – I'm sorry I was so rude earlier. Do you think that we could still be friends? I know I haven't done much to deserve it, but… I'm really sorry! I was being unfair and unkind. Will you all forgive me?"

Her mouth dropped open. After a few seconds, she closed it and said, slowly, "Um… well… I'll ask… the rest of them, and see… what they think…" She backed away from Suzaku warily, as if afraid he would rush her at any moment.

He waited, a little anxiously, for her to return, as she entered the house to break the suggestion to her siblings.

Eventually, she emerged with the boy, who was looking sour, trailing her; she was carrying the pink-haired girl, and he the brown-haired.

Cornelia squared her shoulders, and faced him. "Kururugi. After discussing it, we've decided we can't trust you. However," she added, as he felt his face fall, "we are willing to waive that for now if, first, you apologize to all of us here, and second, you make an oath to not simply do us no harm, but to guard our secrets. We can't let you near us otherwise."

She gestured at her siblings. "I brought all of them out because, if you are going to apologize, I think we would all like to hear it. Especially," she smirked a little, "Lelouch here."

The boy – Lelouch – shot her a dirty look, and said, mistrustfully, "I don't believe a word of it, Cor. I think we should just send him off. He won't do us any good if he can avoid it." Cornelia looked a little uncertain at this, and faced Suzaku with an interrogatory gaze.

Suzaku felt his temper bubble to the surface at Lelouch's unalloyed dislike. "You don't trust me, do you? Fine! I'll _show _you that I'm trustworthy! I'll keep my word once I've given it!"

He stood up, put his right hand over his heart, and took a deep breath.

"I, Suzaku Kururugi, son of the Prime Minister of Japan, staunch enemy of Britannia, do hereby pledge myself to be the guardian of the secrets of Cornelia li Britannia, Lelouch li Britannia – " He broke off, looking as though he was trying to remember something, and asked, after a pause, "Excuse me, what are your siblings' names?"

Cornelia, who looked a little dazed, said, "…Um, their names are Euphemia li Britannia and Nunnally vi Britannia… Oh, and Lelouch is Nunnally's direct sister, so his name has a vi in it too."

"Thank you." He resumed. " – The guardian of the secrets of Cornelia li Britannia, Lelouch vi Britannia, Nunnally vi Britannia, and Euphemia li Britannia," – Euphemia jerked a little as he said her name - "for as long as I and they may live. This I swear, by my blood, by Japan, and by my soul, now and forever."

A ringing silence followed these words.

Cornelia and Euphemia were looking at him as though they had never seen him before. Euphemia blushed when he locked gazes with her, and turned her face away. He looked at Nunnally, and she was smiling happily at the conclusion. When he met Cornelia's eyes, though, he had a question in his face.

She nodded.

Lelouch still looked a little reluctant to trust him, but made no objection as Suzaku suggested that they play a game. Euphemia agreed enthusiastically, and Cornelia, looking exasperatedly amused, went along with her sister.

A few weeks passed. As Suzaku kept his oath, and began to build a powerful bond with all of the royals, the tension began to build throughout Japan as it edged closer and closer to open war with Britannia. Suzaku's father had underestimated their desire for Sakuradite; they would do anything for it.

Even risk war with the entire world.

_Tempus Fugit – Part One – Beginnings_

_Persequendum est._

Author's Note: Holy CRAP, that took a long time to write. I'm either getting lazy (hah, I was already lazy) or I'm running out of ideas… I think I'll save most of the author's note for the second part of _Tempus Fugit_. As always, a great amount of thanks to xchrispx510 for his beta reading, and thanks to you guys for reading.


	7. Intervallum: Tempus Fugit II

WARNING: There is an almost-rape in this chapter. If you don't wanna read about it, skip the last section, or just skip this chapter.

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters presented in this fiction, except one. All characters aside from Ulrike are the property of Sunrise.

Archeas: All happy times must end, as the curtain closes on the players. We may lament this, we may weep about this, but truly, it is the way of the world.

- Sophocles, _The Rivers of Athens_

THE STRANGER, THE SAINT, THE HORN, AND THE WORD

_Intervallum: Tempus Fugit_

(Pause: Time Flies)

_Part Two: Endings_

_Incipio._

* * *

Suzaku had an ear to the keyhole and could just make out a muffled voice.

"If anyone, gentlemen, has an objection to this plan…?"

Heads shook.

Genbu Kururugi harrumphed. "Very well. Tōdō and his battalion will be sent out to engage the enemy at Itsukushima. God knows we can't lose any more than we already have…" He thumped his gavel. "I hereby declare this meeting adjourned."

As Suzaku darted away from the door, the grim circle of Japanese military men streamed out the door, muttering ominously.

The situation was not good, and it had steadily been getting worse as the month moved along. Already the command post at Sarubami Castle near Nagoya had been lost, with more than two battalions of tanks. No one had expected the blitzkrieg horror of the Knightmares; they had torn almost unopposed through the forces deployed against them.

Suzaku caught up with his father after he had escaped from the huddled knots of men. "So, how does the situation look, Father?"

Genbu strode past and didn't answer. Suzaku's mouth crimped unhappily at this blatant disregard of him; it had been getting worse and worse over the past week. The terrible losses were making his father turn his temper more and more on his son, the only one he could safely vent his frustrated fury on. He was now largely communicating by icy looks and silences, as well as neglect. Suzaku was beginning to feel more and more extraneous around his father, and hated feeling that way. Even though he was growing in friendship with Cornelia and her siblings every day, he wanted – _needed_ – his father to love him. It was like a constant itch in his mind, that was growing to a chronic ache as he became accustomed to the love that he was beginning to receive from his new friends; he wanted his father to love him, now that he, Suzaku, knew how wonderful love could be. Not respect him, not praise him, but love him.

The way things were going, though… His father seemed likely to stop caring about him completely, and Suzaku was very afraid of that. For all his father's unkindness, Suzaku craved his care.

As well, he had a completely ridiculous feeling that if he lost his father, he would disappear. His father was the one who gave him merit. If he was gone…

It really was idiotic.

It still terrified him out of his wits.

* * *

Cornelia was pretending to be asleep, with Euphemia in her arms, really asleep. She hadn't wanted the little girl to miss her nap today; she really needed it, especially after the tension of the next few weeks, and she wouldn't go to bed without Cornelia. Beside her, Lelouch and Nunnally had also fallen asleep, holding tightly to each other, despite Lelouch's intention of staying awake to guard her. If he hadn't been so tired, Cornelia was sure that he would have; but he was barely older than Euphie, and needed the rest as much.

She was tired as well; but she _was_ fifteen. Her advanced age gave her a little more leeway when dealing with sleep; she could sleep later. She could stay up to guard her siblings, while letting them all sleep. It worked well, and it gave her time to think.

As most of their thoughts these days tended, her mind turned toward Suzaku Kururugi.

_It's incredible,_ she thought. _Three weeks ago, I would have been willing to write him off as just another one of our enemies. Just another person who would be glad to see us die. And now –_

She considered for a moment. _I think he's probably the most loyal friend any of us have ever had. He's polite, he's kind… he's really one the nicest people any of us have ever known._

The joy they felt in having found a new friend was overshadowed, however, by both his obvious hurt over his father's growing coldness (which he had told them of), and the building tension that crept in whenever he enlightened them as to the depth of the Japanese losses. While Euphemia and Nunnally were sorry for the war for its own sake, Cornelia and Lelouch had realized the unpleasant implications: if they all had been sent here as sacrificial lambs, then they would be fulfilling their purpose soon, and were going to be sacrificed on the altar of the Japanese people's fury as a final act of defiance if they didn't get out of the picture quickly.

Cornelia shifted uncomfortably, making Euphemia give a sleepy murmur. _As much as Suzaku brightens our life here… we have to leave, and soon, or we'll all be dead when the Japanese finally lose Tokyo._

Her dreams, when the other three woke up and she allowed herself to succumb to her tiredness at last, were full of chasing things that slowly became more and more horrible. They overtook her and her siblings at last, when they stumbled in their weariness. As a man with a gun reached for Euphemia, she awoke with a muffled scream.

Her paranoia returned in force after this.

When they returned to bed after a few hours, she clutched at Euphemia as if she would slip away at any moment. She could dimly feel, somehow, that Euphemia was worried at this, and snuggled up to calm her. It worked, a little. She relaxed, but she couldn't get the worry out of her head. Eventually she slept, and was spared the nightmares.

This time.

* * *

_Two days later._

Everything had gone from bad to worse. The Britannian front was advancing on all sides – with the single exception of Itsukushima; somehow, his friend Tōdō had worked a miracle there and obliterated Battalion Beta, and escaped with half his force. He had bought the Japanese military an extra day when they were sure that Tokyo would fall within the day. The Britannians had backed off, wary of this new threat, but when it became clear that the Japanese leaders were too cowardly to trust Tōdō with more troops despite the victory, they had pressed forward again.

Suzaku was furious and scared at once; he was furious with the military – and his father - for wasting the time Tōdō had bought them, and he was scared of what would happen when the Britannians took Tokyo. Most particularly, he was scared out of his mind for his friends; if, after Tokyo was taken, the vengeful Japanese caught them before they could escape… a last act of defiance…

He shook the thoughts out of his mind as he approached his father's office. When he walked in, he glanced at his father's face, intending to gauge his mood before taking a seat.

And froze.

His father's face was frozen, blank with rage. Suzaku had seen him annoyed before, and he had seen him angry and furious before; he had even been the cause of it several times.

But not this.

His father's face was smooth and unemotional, but Suzaku could tell, could almost feel, by the way his father's gaze seemed to cut everything he gazed at, by the way a terrible, icy miasma seemed to boil off him, that he was wrathful beyond anything he, Suzaku, had seen before.

"Suzaku."

The word was spoken and almost wielded like a knife, and Suzaku flinched at it.

"Y-yes, father?"

"Have you heard the news? We have lost Itsukushima. Those fools withdrew Tōdō, and the garrison fell within hours. It's only a matter of time before Tokyo falls as well."

He turned suddenly. Suzaku jumped at the violent movement.

"Do you know what I'm going to do now, Suzaku?"

"No, Father…?"

"I am going to withdraw out of Tokyo, out of Japan if need be, but I _must_ continue the resistance. It will be absolute; as long as one Japanese man, woman or child remains alive, we shall never give up. If they wish to take our land, they must pay triple in blood for it. And first I will mete out a quick and sharp lesson to our new _masters._" He spat the word like venom. "I'm going to have those four sacrificial lambs tortured and killed – _publicly_. The younger ones will die first – _slowly_, while the others are forced to watch – and then I will personally force the elders to commit _seppuku_ – which no doubt they will be too cowardly to do themselves. The world may defame us as hideous monsters, but Britannia will learn what will happen to their children if they send them here. And we will do it to every Britannian we get our hands on, for as long as it takes to force them out of the ascendant nation of Japan."

Suzaku felt the bile rise, and felt his fear rise likewise, a shadowy snake in his gut. His father was planning to commit the very thing he dreaded. _The final revenge of the free nation of Japan…_ He had adored the idea once, but now he saw it for the hateful pettiness that it was. A perpetuation of hate and violence.

Suddenly something became clear to Suzaku that had been murky before: _war and revenge solve nothing. They only inspire others – through their hate – to kill, kill, kill, and hate some more… And if I don't stop my father, they'll poison my life, and end my friends' prematurely._ But, like a viper, another opposing thought rose in the back of his mind, and whispered treasonously, _Just what you've always wanted: your father's relying on you, trusting you enough to tell you what he will do. Are you going to stab your father in the back, you little worm? Are you really unworthy of Japan, of _life _itself? Choose right, Suzaku! Choose the glory of Japan, and you will be remembered as the model of the faithful son!_ And the other arguments seemed, somehow, weak and foolish… rage, after all, was the only thing that was real; love and peace simply afterthoughts of humanity…

His father turned to him, and although the rage was undiminished, a swelling of pride in his progeny was clear. "You have done your job well, Suzaku. You kept them here, and now we have a message to send the whole world. My son, you may have enabled my – _our_ victory. Now, if you will tell me where they are housed, I will notify my guards to arrest them and place them in confinement."

The smile that was upon his father's face was a vengeful, a hateful, a proud smile, that said clearly, _My son has enabled my vengeance, and for that, I am pleased with him. I will treasure him._

_If he but grants me this._

Suzaku kept his face completely blank as the weight of the decision landed on his shoulders. Here it was, his moment, all glory to Japan, all glory to Suzaku the Faithful!

All he had to do was sacrifice some children he had hardly known for a month.

He opened his mouth, and the honorable words trembled on the tip of his tongue. _They are hiding near Meiji Shrine… They are hiding… They're…_

Before he made a conscious decision, he thought again of the faces of his friends. Sweet little Euphemia, solemn but joyful Nunnally, abrasive but loyal Lelouch, and… the majestic Cornelia, who had downed him, the prodigy…

And before he said the words he was thinking, he blurted one word that changed the litany of excuses.

"No."

His father looked stunned.

"Excuse me? I didn't catch that?"

That one word brought to his mind back to what he had realized. _I have to stop this, here, now. _Panic rose again, but was forced down by the knowledge that he had to save them.

"I-I won't tell you where they are."

His father rose slowly from his chair.

_Booong._

The antique grandfather clock, an original from Britannia itself, began striking the hour.

"You will… _not _tell me where they are?"

_Booong._

"That's r-right, Father."

_Booong._

"Why is this, Suzaku? Tell me why. Now."

_Booong._

"I can't betray them, Father. Not after all they've done for me."

_Booong._

"All _they've_ done for you? All _they've done _for_ you_?"

(rage like the wave off Kanegawa, rising)

_Booong._

"You would place the lives of three spoiled princesses and one arrogant prince above those of your people?" (my glory)

_Booong._

"Yes." (sure voice; at least here he was sure)

_Booong._

"Do you betray us to the enemy, Suzaku? Are you proved a coward at last? Because these worthless royals won't help you escape. They are disowned."

_Booong._

"I know that. B-But they are my friends, Father, and just as they would not betray me, I will not betray them."

_Booong._

"A-and, Father? I think we should…" (a pause) "… s-s-surrender. Even if we do manage to delay the Britannian g-government, we'll pay with our people's lives, and build up hatred between Britannia and Japan. We'll do nothing, accomplish nothing but hate and death."

This was the spark.

_Booong._

Genbu Kururugi's face did not change. He seemed to drift up from his chair, around his desk, and towards Suzaku, his hands out, as if to embrace him. But… Suzaku's status as a prodigy of martial arts had not been feigned. Even now, he slid into a defence posture meant for killing enemies armed with guns. Tōdō's drill, pounded into his mind ten thousand times, echoed in a mean parody of his voice: _When you find yourself facing an opponent _(oh God) _armed with a gun, get low to the ground. Then, get as close as possible to the gun. If your aim is to disable, a quick blow to the head will suffice. If your aim is to kill, twist the gun out of their hands _(yes and now) _and shoot your adversary_

_Booong –_

It was.

Twelve noon.

BANG.

_Through the throat_.

Glass shattered as the clock's pendulum case was suddenly spiderwebbed with cracks. The gun's recoil propelled Suzaku onto the floor. His father's corpse crumpled. The gun had done neat work.

Shards of the timepiece dropped quietly to the floor, making a persistent tinkling the background noise as Suzaku's world started to burn.

He felt choked, cut off, as if a fire was sending smoke into his lungs instead of air. It could not –

his father could not be –

But Genbu Kururugi lay motionless. Like the broken clock, whose pendulum lay like a dropped sword, he was silent, humbled in death, at last.

Suzaku dropped to his knees, as if in supplication, and with a shaking hand, took his father's pulse.

No movement lifted his fingers.

He noticed, detached, that his father's pocket watch had fallen out of his coat. It had stopped. He picked it up, weighed it in his hand, and closed his fingers, vise-like, around it.

He would have cried, only he couldn't even gather the energy to start. His mind was so full of the horrible reality before him, he could hardly muster the energy to breathe, let alone cry.

He slumped over the thing that had been his father, and proceeded to stare at the wall, hoping to become nothing, to dissolve, so he wouldn't have to live. With himself.

An hour later, the frantic guards found him on deathwatch.

* * *

Unintelligible murmurs.

_Poor kid. _

_Yeah, can you believe the gutless bastard?_

_To do that in front of his own son._

_He was saying something about "tried to stop him" when they found him, did you know? That's why his fingerprints were on the gun._

_Well, I can't say I don't sympathize a little with Kururugi. We have no chance; the Britannians are around three hours from here…_

_Shut up! Don't say that in front of him! He's had enough trauma without you adding any more._

Faded out.

He was in a medical tent, some distance from the mansion.

He opened his fingers, which were shaking with exertion from holding the watch so long. It was still stopped.

He put the watch in his pocket as he watched his attendants leave to defend Japan.

He stumbled out when he was sure they were gone. If he had no father, he had no ties to this place. But he had four friends who would very soon be in great danger if he didn't warn them _now_, and get them out. He would have to risk his life to save them, but he _wanted_ to risk his life. He didn't deserve to have it, after all, and he had bought it with his father's.

_Too high._

* * *

Lelouch's return to consciousness was heralded by a muffled voice calling his name.

He sat up dizzily, and squinted at the intruder while Nunnally stirred and whimpered in his arms.

"Whozzat?"

He could make out, through the sleep-haze, Cornelia, with a – grief-stricken, it looked like – Suzaku trailing behind her.

Lelouch had grown to very much appreciate Suzaku's company in the past few weeks; after all, with no other boys readily accessible, he had very little chance to drop his "girl armour" (or so he liked to call it) when talking, except when he spoke with Suzaku. So, naturally, he had begun to anticipate Suzaku's visits with pleasure.

However, he was not accustomed to Suzaku calling at – what was the time? He checked the ancient analog timepiece the Britannian embassy had seen fit to provide this shack with – half past three in the morning.

Hmmm.

"Wh-wha's up, Cor?" Lelouch yawned. His incautiously loud question woke Euphemia, who groaned a little as she hoisted herself up to stare blearily at her sister, and when she noticed him, less blearily and more glowingly at Suzaku.

Cornelia's voice did not have her usual tolerant tone. She spoke tersely and worriedly. "All of you need to _really_ get up and get moving. We have a very short window of time if we want to get out of here alive."

Lelouch jerked awake at that. "Say what, Cor?"

"You heard me."

"You're… joking, right?"

"No. If you absolutely can't wait till we're in safety to know the details, I'll tell you when we're underway. We need to get ready – _fast!_ I'll get Euphemia and Nunnally ready. You get the essentials from the kitchen and living room."

"But I want to help Nunnally get – " Cornelia pushed him out, and slammed the door. " – ready." Lelouch scowled.

_I bet it's not as serious as Cor thinks it is, _he grumped to himself as he made his way to the kitchen with an empty backpack. _She always blows stuff out of proportion._

He packed the backpack full of food, a flashlight, a medical kit, and four (camouflage-patterned, oddly enough; he supposed that this had been a military post once, and someone had been too cheap to buy new material) blankets, still grumbling, and was making his way back upstairs when he heard an explosion, shouts, and gunshots. Judging by the level of sound, there was skirmishing within a mile of where they were staying now.

With the speed of fright, Lelouch sprinted up the stairs.

"Cor-Cornelia! We have to leave _now!_"

His half-sister still looked very worried and was beginning to verge on panic. "I _know_, Lelouch! That – " she gestured roughly out the window " – is why Suzaku came to warn us." She looked at the boy next to her with a fervently grateful expression. "If he hadn't come… I doubt any of us would have gotten out of here alive…" Her eyes flicked to Euphemia, who was wide awake now and trying not to look scared, as not to worry Cornelia further. Lelouch could tell she was, very much so, no matter how much she postured.

As hysteria began to mount, his eyes were pulled, in mimicry of Cornelia's almost-obsession, to Nunnally.

She was sitting, doll-like, on the bed. The stillness and fragility of her limbs – questing arms and useless legs – made her appear as if she was made of glass, a beautiful but ornamental thing.

Until she spoke.

Her voice cut through the panic and dread that hung over the four. "Sister Cornelia. Nii-sama. Suzaku-sama. You're right, I can tell. We have no time for anything but escape. What shall we do?"

Cornelia shook her head a little, as if trying to clear it, and raised her eyes again. They were still worried, but determination had replaced her panic. "Sh-she's right. Okay! All of you, listen up!" She thought for a moment, then asked: "Oh, Lelouch? Do you have any blankets in there?"

"Yes, Cor. Four of them."

She looked them over. "Ah, wonderful, camo. Take out three of them. Give one to me, take one yourself, and give one to Suzaku. We're going to run for it, but we're going to run low and slow."

She slid her shoulders through the straps of the backpack, swirled the blanket over herself, and hoisted Euphemia into her arms. Her voice, slightly muffled, emerged: "Lelouch, follow thirty seconds after I leave, and from a different door. Suzaku, you should do the same after Lelouch has left. That should allow for enough stagger in the departure times to help us escape unnoticed." He nodded.

"All right! We meet up again at the ditch where Suzaku rescued Euphemia!" Lelouch heard a thump from within the blanket, but Cornelia simply said, "Ow!" in response to her sister's ill tempered blow, and continued, "Our final destination is the Ashford's villa, in Tama Ward. I estimate a travel time of about four days from our present position, provided we go on foot, and travel secretly. I'll see you at the ditch; good luck and God bless, you three!"

In three seconds, she was out the door, running low and almost silent, making no noise other than a faint, consistent crackle as she made her way away from the house.

Lelouch watched her go with envy. _I don't think I'll _ever _be that athletic, _he lamented. Fortunately, the training Cornelia had been putting him through had at least improved his stamina to the point that he could run for a good while with Nunnally on his back. He began to ready himself; he lifted Nunnally into her accustomed spot on his back, and asked Suzaku if he would put the blanket over him. Suzaku did so.

The half-minute passed slowly for Lelouch. He kept imagining the men he had heard breaking into the house and killing Nunnally, although he held her on his back. Even worse, he imagined them marking it as an enemy base (whichever side they were on) and torching it, leaving them inside to burn.

When it was his time to leave, he turned to Suzaku. "Good luck," he said in a hoarse whisper.

"You, too," Suzaku whispered back.

Lelouch edged out the side door into the night.

And then he ran.

He was nowhere near as quiet as Cornelia, but he counted on the ambient noise to disguise the sound of his feet.

When he came up on the shrine, he had to freeze behind a tree when a party of four heavily armed men came through the woods, but, fortunately, they were too focused on their destination (the house) to pay much attention to the unusually shaped ground behind the tree.

The sound of his quick footsteps resumed. He knew the place he was heading for; it had been etched into his memory.

_Lelouch? Where's Euphemia? Weren't you watching her?_

_I… uhhh…_

He grimaced and shook his head. _That _had been the worst scolding he'd _ever _gotten from Cornelia. It hadn't helped that Suzaku and _Euphemia herself _had stood watching, both scarlet with suppressed laughter, while Cornelia reamed him out. It had struck Lelouch as very unfair; after all, Euphemia was fine, wasn't she? Nunnally, bless her, hadn't laughed at all.

The changes of direction suggested themselves from his memory.

_South._

_Southwest._

_West. _

_South._

A gunshot rang out, not one hundred feet from him. A man screamed. Lelouch dropped to the forest floor, right next to a large tree, not daring to breathe.

Men's voices, unconcerned and loud, as well as more than a little inebriated, rang out in the night. "I think I got one of 'em! Help meh check it out, one of yeh?"

"I'll do it, Reg."

Their heavy footfalls came closer and closer, until they stopped five yards from where Lelouch lay frozen.

Reg whistled. "Aye, that's a dead'un all right!"

"Nice shot."

"Don't mention it."

Lelouch heard them begin to remove the weapons from the body, as well as whatever valuable they could find. _Scavengers_, he thought disgustedly.

"What a haul, eh?"

"Yeah! He was rolling in it – past tense, o' course."

The men roared with laughter, and, to Lelouch's horror, he heard them begin to walk toward where he lay twisted by the tree. If one of them tripped on him…

"Ah, there's a big root, here, Reg."

"Ah. Good job spottin' that one, Johnny. Wouldn't want to lose our newfound wealth by trippin' in this miserable forest."

Lelouch knew that the slightest twitch could betray him. He schooled himself to remain completely still.

The men stepped over him –

"Wait!"

"What is it, Johnny?"

"I think the root just moved!"

"Ahhh, yeh've had too much to drink!" Reg chuckled. "Overindulged in victory, have we?"

"No, really, Reg! I think we should check it! It might be an enemy spy! At least sink a shot into it."

Reg tutted. "Now, how would I look, pointin' mah gun at a root, eh? I'd look like a damn fool, that's what I'd look like! Get away with yeh, and yer movin' root!"

Grumbling, Johnny walked away, with Reg following, continuing to good-naturedly rib him about his drinking habits.

Lelouch let out a long, slow breath. That _was close._

Nunnally was shaking on his back. He dropped her for a moment to hug her. After she had calmed down, he picked her back up, and headed towards the ditch, his siblings, and – hopefully – salvation.

Lelouch stumbled into the clearing that held the ditch on the edge of Yoyogi Park*. His pace had slowed to a silent jog after the incident with the treasure-hunting soldiers, but he was still exhausted.

He fell to his knees, but he did not drop Nunnally. He knew he should, but he didn't let go. She clung to him tightly as well.

Cornelia and Euphemia walked over. Lelouch was pulled into a fierce group hug with the two of them.

"Hey! Cor – "

"I'm glad to see you two," whispered Cornelia. "We'd been here for half an hour already… we thought you hadn't made it."

"I was really scared," said Euphemia, in a tiny voice. "Please… don't scare me like that again, okay?"

Lelouch was just about to promise that he wouldn't, when Suzaku crashed into the clearing. He was clutching his shoulder.

"Uuuuh…" With a groan, he collapsed.

"Suzaku!"

The four of them rushed toward him. Euphemia was first to reach him. She shifted him so she could survey his front.

"He's got a gunshot wound in his shoulder." She looked up. "Nothing else as far as I can see."

Cornelia nodded, letting her medical training take over. "All right. Lelouch, would you get the medical kit out? I need disinfectant, forceps, and gauze. Lots of gauze."

"Yes, I've got it." He extracted the medical kit from the backpack, and handed it to Euphemia, who gave Cornelia the disinfectant and forceps.

She went to work.

_Later. In the ditch._

"How did you get that bullet wound, Suzaku?" Lelouch asked.

Suzaku winced. "Carelessness, mainly. I was about three-quarters of the way here, when I ran into two men, who had apparently just looted a corpse. They… spotted me."

"Really? I thought you were stealthier than that…"

The wince turned into a scowl. "You try being stealthy when you're four feet from two men with good night vision, you aren't on the ground, and your only disguise is a stupid camo blanket."

Lelouch put up his hands in mock surrender. "All right, you win."

"Anyway, I managed to knock them both out, but not before the one nearest me got a bullet into me. I had to slow my pace to a jog, but I just barely made it here…"

Cornelia smiled. "At least you made it here, Suzaku. We're fairly safe down here; the wave of soldiers has mostly dissipated. I think we can stand to rest for a little while…"

Lelouch let Nunnally off his back, spread out one of the camo blankets, and laid Nunnally on it. He made a face; the floor of the ditch was still wet from the flooding, but it was dry enough for Nunnally to be relatively comfortable.

Cornelia gestured to the blanket. "Euphie, you should get some rest too." Euphemia was too tired to argue, and dropped down beside Nunnally.

"And as for you…" Cornelia turned to Suzaku, her voice dropping. "I want you to tell me what sent you to us looking like you'd seen a ghost."

"Hey!" said Lelouch (quietly). "If she gets to hear, then I do too! I'm the second oldest!"

Cornelia gave him a sunny smile. "Yes, and second-best."

He tried to attack her, but she deflected his punch, grabbed his head, and gave him a noogie.

"Ow-ow-ow! Stop!" "Don't try and fight your Sensei!"

Suzaku huffed a laugh. "You two are priceless."

Cornelia let Lelouch go, and he dropped to the floor beside her. They were both grinning.

"I'll tell you what's happened; to me, and to Japan."

* * *

Both Cornelia and Lelouch had stopped grinning. Indeed, Lelouch could see Cornelia's face had frozen into a grim mask of fury, and his own face was set in a rictus grimace.

Suzaku looked at the floor as he finished his story. "…I snuck out of the tent when I was sure they were gone, and I came to find you, to warn you." He looked up at them.

Without warning, Cornelia struck the soft, clayey wall of the ditch. Her fist went into the wall almost six inches before it was stopped. She spoke in a low monotone, almost a whisper.

"Lelouch. For our miseries – banishment, misuse, attempted assassination – and for those Suzaku has suffered – the death of his father, the murder of his people, the destruction of his _country_ – I think it only right that Britannia pay in full for its misdeeds, don't you?"

"Indeed, Sister. I can only see one course to take, can't you?"

"Yes, Brother."

They clasped hands. The look in their eyes must be frightening, Lelouch knew; he noticed Suzaku withdraw a little, shock in his eyes. He didn't really care.

They began to speak, alternating, in the same low tone.

"For the evils it has committed,"

"I, the Second Princess of Britannia," "

"And I, the Seventh Prince of Britannia,"

"Have determined that the Holy Empire of Britannia no longer deserves to exist." "Therefore, we pledge ourselves now and forever, to this oath."

"WE WILL ERADICATE BRITANNIA!"

These last seemed to echo eerily, as if some ancient pact had been sealed, or some foul malediction had been released...

Euphemia and Nunnally, already asleep, stirred a little, and their faces darkened, as if, by some sleep-borne forewarning, they knew what their siblings were doing.

Suzaku looked at the siblings, and saw a darkness there that he hadn't seen before, as if the oath hung over the sibling's heads.

Like an axe.

He shuddered involuntarily, and turned the conversation away, to lighter topics…

_**The Voice of Akasha speaks: Time runs short. We may give you one last memory before the window is closed. Mark us, you who read: aid to one in need can uproot empires; even alter the course of fate. Hearken now…**_

* * *

"Suzaku!"

Cornelia called one last time, fruitlessly.

He still didn't appear around the corner of the crumbling building that she had been searching for the last hour for any sign of him.

She angrily swiped at her eyes. It was stupid of her to be crying. He was probably all right. She was sure that he was safe.

Right?

The last three days had not been kind to the little band of children. Their food was running short, and neither Cornelia nor Lelouch had so far been able to replenish it. Even with Lelouch's smooth-talking skills, he had failed in finding anyone willing to share the little food they did have, and Cornelia's thievery skills were of little use when over half the population was starving.

Not only that, they had encountered several roaming bands of victory-drunk (and sometimes just regular drunk) Britannian soldiers on their trek, and had been forced to hide. The worst had been a breathless two-hour stretch during which they watched soldiers beat a Japanese man to death and drag his sobbing wife away – Cornelia had barely been able to restrain Lelouch, and she had been as furious as he. The woman's screams still echoed in her ears.

Worst of all, they had lost Suzaku.

On the afternoon of the first day, they had been carefully making their way around the Scramble Crossing in Shibuya, when an entire _squadron_ of Knightmares had moved in on reported rebel action in that area. They met with "heavy resistance" – their general word for hysterical locals throwing whatever they could at the Knightmares. She remembered it being used from when she had aided in the invasion of Area Ten. _Probably was invented by someone like Kewell_, she thought grimly – Kewell had been her martial arts teacher, and had had a firm belief in Britannian superiority, as well as a tendency toward "inflation" of the facts. She hadn't liked him much, but he had been a good teacher, and she had borne with him.

In any case, that "heavy resistance" was met with widespread slaughter. The crossfire had been murder – quite literally. She counted it a miracle that she and all three of her siblings had gotten out alive and unhurt – it was only after they had crouched in the deserted underpass, next to a scrawled red sigil, that they had counted, and realized they were one short.

Suzaku had vanished.

All of them had been appalled that they had lost him, but none more so than Euphemia. She had nearly gone into hysterics, and demanded that they return at once to the Scramble to look for him. When Cornelia and Lelouch had explained to her – though reluctantly – that this was impossible, she displayed a surprisingly furious temper, hitherto unseen by anyone, even Cornelia, and prevented them from going further until she had cried herself to sleep.

Cornelia had thanked her lucky stars that no one had been close enough – or cared enough – to investigate the source of the almighty racket, but it was with a sense of numbness that the four siblings departed from the Shibuya District the next day. Since then, Cornelia had been going on searches whenever they stopped. She ranged as far as she could go and still make it back before everyone else woke up to put the camp in order, but she never found anything. He seemed, indeed, to be lost forever.

She looked up at the smoke-blackened sky, and saw tiny stars winking at her through the haze.

_Is this all we can hope for? That we can remember him through what we do? Through what we have promised? _

_Will I – we – never see our friend again?_

A weight in her stomach, she turned to go.

And found herself looking at ten very drunk Britannian soldiers.

"Hallo, who's this?"

"Dunno, but take a look at her, eh?"

"What a charmer!"

"Why dontcha stay with us, lass?"

They guffawed. Cornelia, infuriated at their indulgence and indifference to the suffering they had caused, turned her back on them.

One of them stepped forward, stumbling a little, and grabbed her shoulder. He was young, but looked as if he was in command.

"Now, now, lass. What's your name? What's a nice girl like you doin' here?"

She jerked her shoulder out of his grip. She coldly replied, "I don't believe that's any of your business, _sir_."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh. Not so nice, then, eh?"

"Well, we like that type better, don't we, Jack?"

"That we do, that we do."

She began to feel a little uneasy. Martial arts prodigy or not, it would be very difficult for her to incapacitate ten foes at once, even if they were all the same height and weight as her, and these were all taller and heavier than her. Even though they were drunk, they were still soldiers…

"Listen, will you just let me go? As you see, I'm not Japanese. I don't want any trouble."

She hated herself for using that argument, but the situation was too volatile not to.

The man who had grabbed her – Jack – roared with laughter. "Ahhh, don't worry, we know you're not a Jap, lass. If you'da been a Jap, we'da just taken you and asked questions when you were nice and subdued."

The men were moving round her, cutting off her escape routes. Fear began to flutter in her chest – being at the center of a circle was never a good thing in a fight, and she had a horrible feeling it was going to be even worse in this situation.

"Please – just let me go. My brother – my sisters – they need my help. I have to go."

Jack smiled amiably. "Well, I figure we can do that. Right, lads?" The men nodded, not taking their eyes off Cornelia. "We'll have to charge you a fee, though."

"W-what do you mean?" Stutter, dammit. Worst possible time.

He laughed again, but this time it was predatory, not convivial. "We're lonely in this big city, and your face reminds us of home. We'd like you to share a little _more _of you. Maybe for a while." A mutter ran around the circle at this.

"But – but I'm Britannian! Why are you doing this to me?!"

Jack shook his head in a fatherly manner. "Oh, for goodness' sake, lass. If you're Britannian, and you're in Japan, you're either in disgrace, or you're a soldier. You're clearly not a soldier. So… no one cares what we do to you. Excepting yourself, of course." He bowed mockingly, and his eye flashed. "And your sisters. Tell me, where are they, exactly?"

"_You bastard!_"

She lunged at him, only to be caught in mid-leap by the soldiers on either side of him.

"_Let me go! Let me go, damn you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you all!"_

The two had her arms, and two more took her legs. They spread her out on the ground, and Jack walked up to her.

"Be sure to tell us what you want us to do and not do to you," he said, pulling out his rifle. He began to push her shirt up with it. "We'll take your advice under consideration."

Cornelia screamed in fury and fear, at her helplessness.

_Schock!_

Suddenly, Jack's eyes glazed over, and he fell in the dirt, blood pooling beneath him. The blade that had spitted him was withdrawn, and held by its owner at the ready.

"You Britannians. You're all the same. You eat everything. You eat everyone. You even – " his blade flashed over to point at Cornelia " – eat your own."

They charged him with a roar, dropping Cornelia.

He sliced them with a vindictive spirit in his eyes, as if he could cut Britannia out of Japan by cutting down these few fingers of its occupation. One by one they fell, screaming and gurgling, as throats, hearts, and stomachs were hewn, until only Cornelia remained.

He looked at her, and his blade swung to her again. "You know, I should kill you too. After all – you're Britannian."

She swallowed. She didn't think she would last long against a man who was that good with a sword. _Be polite._

"Thank you very much. Your aid was m-much appreciated." Her voice only shook a little.

He laughed, a gleam of admiration in his eyes. "You're welcome, miss. Who says all Britannians are uncivilized?" He offered her his hand. She took it, and stood up.

"They were right about one thing, though," he said, looking out over the desolation of Tokyo. "No one but a soldier or a disgraced noble would be here in Japan. So… who are you?"

Cornelia shrugged. "A disgraced noble, then."

"Are you?" He was looking very hard at her. "I could have sworn I've seen your face somewhere before."

_Time to change the topic!_ "Well, anyway, what's your name?"

He smiled, a little bitterly. "It's not important. Suffice it to say, I'm a Japanese man whose family has been torn apart. I was a soldier before… well."

She nodded. They stood there, a little awkwardly, for a moment longer, before he asked, quietly, "You hate it? Britannia?"

"With all of my heart."

He sheathed his sword. "I think… I think I will let you live then, if only because you owe me."

"Thank you." She bowed to him – curtsying had never appealed to her – and began to walk towards their camp, to rouse her siblings for another march.

"Hey!" She turned at the call. "You wanted to know my name, right?"

"Yes…?"

"It's…" he hesitated for a moment more, and then blurted out, "Naoto Kōzuki."

"All right. I'll remember it."

They stood for a moment, as if they wanted to say something, but the moment broke, and they began to walk away…

Eventually, the made it to the Ashford residence. Cornelia was delirious from tiredness, such that she could hardly remember the final day of their journey, and all of them were a little malnourished, but they survived the invasion of Japan, and weathered it under the rather unwelcoming wing of the Ashford family. All except for Milly, who adored having someone to play with again, and her grandfather, Reuben, who adored getting the chance to see them all again. They settled in, and everyone except the Ashfords assumed the princesses and prince had died at the Japanese hands. Tragic and sad, very much so, life goes on.

But they lived still. And the wild seed of vengeance bloomed within the hearts of the Seventh Prince and the Second Princess, and they waited for the time when they could wreak havoc on the nation that had ruined their lives.

They would destroy it, just as it had destroyed them, and almost taken everything they loved.

That chance didn't come for seven years, but when it did, they began to turn the world upside down…

_**The Voice of Akasha speaks: For now, you who read, you see enough. More will be revealed, but the door closes… wait until the time comes, and you will see their glory in full… read on, noble one, and mark the ties of fate as they come together…**_

_Tempus Fugit – Part Two – Endings_

_Consumo._

*Footnote – Yoyogi Park is the park in which Meiji Shrine is contained. I know, because I used Google Maps for this chapter. Go me! You can look it up too, if you want to.

Author's Note: Well, after a great deal of slacking (and some schoolwork), this, the seventh chapter of THE STRANGER, THE SAINT, THE HORN, AND THE WORD was written. If anyone's stuck to me all this time, then I commend them, and would advise them to stick around further, because we've got a long way to go. Several notes and thank-yous: First of all, as always, thanks to xchrispx510 for beta-reading this (don't know what I'd do without him). Second, the next chapter in the story will be a battle-focused chapter, and most likely a two-parter. By the time this is up, I will have finished the first part, but it may take a while. Just thought you ought to know. Third and lastly, I have a small supplementary little drabble thing I wrote called _Nina Einstein's Essay_, which I will be posting along with this chapter. It is an essay by Nina Einstein (duh) about the properties and usage of the superconductor, Sakuradite. It's… not exactly scientifically accurate, but it will help explain some of the battle tactics that Lelouch uses in the next chapter, as well as expanding the context of Sakuradite and making it more than a giant Phlebotinum overdose. So you might want to read it, if you're into that sort of thing. Oh, and if you want to know why Lelouch didn't exploit these advantages in the anime? …It's an AU. Deal with it.

Thanks for reading!


	8. Machinations

WARNING: The first section is a bit gory and creepy. Avoid it if you don't like reading about nasty injuries inflicted by insane sadist girls.

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters presented in this fiction, except one. All characters aside from Ulrike are the property of Sunrise.

The COMMANDER stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage, and strictness…

- Sun Tzu, _The Art of War_

THE STRANGER, THE SAINT, THE HORN, AND THE WORD

_Chapter 6 – Machinations_

_Incipio._

He knelt in a concrete cell, hands behind his back, head down. The prisoner's garb he wore was immaculately white.

He thought he could guess the reason they had captured him (_I'm an example, right…)_, but – _heh _– he'd at least caused some trouble on his way out.

_Good luck maneuvering your way out of the shit I left you in, Carine. Even if Guinevere _can_ get you out of it, I doubt she'll want to; your public relations leave a lot to be desired._

He _was_ on his way out, though, no doubt about that. Ohgi meant well, but he was a mediocre tactician at best, and Carine was far more competent than even he, Naoto, was, although less charismatic; so even if Ohgi _had _obtained more than one decrepit Knightmare, it would be impossible for him to rescue Naoto.

_Might as well resign myself then…_

A sharp pang of guilt hit him as he remembered that his sister would be left behind without him. She would die, soon; the rebellion had little chance without him. Would she die cursing him? Hating him? He hoped not.

But the fact of his impending death concentrated his thoughts past even the plight he had left his sister in.

_I'm going to die. _

_Tomorrow, Naoto Kōzuki will cease to exist. _

A noise outside his cell made him look up.

"Well, Mr. Kōzuki? Glad to be here?"

A redheaded, pigtailed girl with a noticeable lack of bust stood outside his cell. She was easily – and horribly – recognizable as Carine ne Britannia, little military genius extraordinaire.

Naoto refused to meet her eyes. She didn't deserve it. Brilliant as she was, she had a reputation for cruelty and callousness, which her half-sister just barely managed to mitigate with her somewhat effective "outreach" programs – the most effective being the concept of "Honorary Britannians".

She snickered unpleasantly. "Oh, so you're not? That's a shame. We prepared our finest accommodations for you… It's only a shame we couldn't catch your sister, too…"

He shot her a filthy look and dropped his gaze again.

She giggled. "So impolite! So stingy with pleasantries! Well, well, you'll be cured of that soon…"

She turned away from him, and started to walk away, when she appeared to think of something, and faced him again, a malicious smile on her lips.

"I suppose you think you caused me a great deal of trouble with that little escapade in Shinjuku? Mmm?"

He refused to rise to her baiting. She kept smiling; apparently she had a bombshell to drop.

She spoke aside, to the guards accompanying her. "Open the door."

They did so, and she walked in. She grabbed his chin, and raised his face to hers.

In honeyed tones, she began: "You know, stealing that capsule was _not _a _nice thing to do._" She said those last in a baby voice. "I know your little resistance wanted to cause the _big, bad _government some trouble, but couldn't you have picked a easily repairable target to attack? _Sigh._" She pouted for a moment, and then brightened up horribly. "Unfortunately for your purposes, the damage was quite repairable." Her eyes narrowed, and a truly nasty smirk showed on her face. "All it needed was the quick slaughter of the citizens of Shinjuku. That cleared things up quite neatly. Oh, and did I mention? We got the capsule back."

His face contorted. His voice was low, almost toneless with anger: "You did not."

She laughed delightedly. "I did! I did! Now, get angry, Mr. Aloof Eleven! I _killed _your _peop_le, I _killed _your _peop_le! Or maybe _butchered _is a better word!" She laughed with abandon now.

He absolutely could not contain himself any longer. This little snot was going to get what she deserved. He lunged, but only managed to clip her before she got out of his way.

Her eyes narrowed, and a predatory look enveloped her features. "Hmm… you wanna play…? OK, I'll play with you…"

She slumped into a loose stance. Naoto was nonplussed by this apparent disregard for the conventions of fighting, but charged anyway.

And found himself smashed against the wall. "Ah, that's so cute… a little, _haah_, swordsman are we… you're such an amateur at martial arts…" Carine was slipping in her diction; she seemed to be succumbing to some inner demon.

Well, that wasn't all he could do. He kicked back at her, forcing her to loosen her grip a little to dodge. He popped his hands out of the handcuffs – it was amazing what you could do with a protruding nail and extreme boredom – and threw her off.

She landed, snarling, but a little wary. They circled for a moment.

_What style is she using… I haven't seen it before…?_

No more time to think about it, she was rushing. He gave her a roundhouse kick, and as she dodged that, he followed with a vicious hook kick.

"Glk!"

She dropped, momentarily stunned. He leaped on her, and starting punching everywhere he could reach.

"…Heh… you got lucky…"

He pulled away in shock, how was she still conscious? Only he couldn't pull away, because Carine had snapped his hands back in the handcuffs, and she was holding the chain.

"Heehee…"

In a sudden movement, she pinned him to the floor, and gave him a fierce blow to the face that nearly knocked him out.

"Still conscious…? Good… I wan' y' to hear this…"

She was slurring her words now, even as her tone rose in pitch.

"I'm whatcha call a _zerker _troop… _ haah… _short for _beserker_, geddit? Heehee… anyway, I was the prototype subject… I made them modify my metabolism more than they wanted t'… I can't get enough… _haah…_ of the fighting… feels s-so _good!_ I'm tellin' y' this so you know y' never had a chance… _haah…_ For being s' weak, I'm gonna take a little somethin' offa y'…"

Her cultured Pendragon accent was giving way to her mother's native Southern Britannia accent, one she would never dare reveal to the gentry, arrogant as she was…

_Oh God she's completely lost it this was a bad id –_

An explosion of pain. He howled, and heard her laugh giddily.

His right eye had gone dark. He could only see out of his left eye, and with horror, he saw Carine lick blood off what had formerly been his right eye.

"You… psychopath…" he grunted. "what… the hell…"

She returned abruptly – and disconcertingly – to her friendly exterior. "Ohhh, it's not like you'll be _needing _it for long, Mr. One-Eyed Eleven. Heehee." She kissed the eye she still held. "How about this… I'll get a locket, put this in it, and keep it with me, OK? It'll be like not all of you has died. I'll even show it to your sister, once we catch her… but after some of my guard have had fun with her. OK? Does that sound good?"

He couldn't even tell her what he thought of her, because after all the blood loss, he was about to black out. He did so, listening to Carine's inane – and possibly insane – giggling.

* * *

Carine was still lightheaded after her adventure in the cell. A little tremor ran down her spine at the thought of the howl she had loosed from the Eleven…

She tried to control her giggles. Her lies had been perfectly calculated. He had actually _believed_ that she, Carine, had been the one to slaughter all of Shinjuku, as well as recapture the capsule. Guinevere had had charge of that operation. _She'd_ mussed it up, of course, because she was the most ineffective commander ever… but even she shouldn't have been able mess this one up… it was that leader's fault…

She frowned a little as she remembered that. That marred her pleasure a bit. Whoever that upstart rebel leader was, she was going to catch him, _break _him, and then execute him. Along with that other one, the woman… if they hadn't come and _spoiled _everything…

Ah, well. At least tomorrow she would get to execute that Eleven. Good mood restored, she ran to her office to plan his execution.

* * *

Cornelia sat up in bed, and smiled dreamily.

_Battle day._

She had been planning this day for a couple of weeks, and now that it was here, she was wildly excited. It wasn't Lelouch who was going to be directing this battle, it was her. All her. Today she would be proving that she was as good as or better than he was when it came to military strategy, that her position as a military history teacher actually meant something.

Euphemia shuffled in, pink hair in disarray, and mumbled sleepily, "I think Milly's making breakfast today, so if you want some, you better come to the table, 'cause it'll be gone soon." She started to shuffle back out again, but Cornelia jumped and caught her before she got out. "What, no hug?"

Euphemia turned into Cornelia's arms with an exaggerated sigh. "You're really needy, Nee-sama…" Despite her tone, the hug she gave Cornelia was tight; maybe she still felt bad about her "assumptions"? Cornelia felt a pang of guilt at that, but she shook it off; she couldn't drop into another funk, not just before their march on Sarubami.

_Ah, yes…, _she thought as she started to dress and Euphemia headed downstairs. _Our march on Sarubami._

Sarubami Castle had been a landmark in Japan before the invasion; as the site of one of Oda Nobunaga's greatest victories, the Nobunaga Shogunate had treasured it, and eventually, under pressure from Kisuke Nobunaga, the 5th in the shogunate line, it was declared a shrine.

During the Meiji Restoration, the emperor, who was rather afraid of the Nobunaga Shogunate (as well he should have been, given the fact that he was overthrown by them eventually) named the shrine as second only to the glorious Ise Shrine itself, where the Sacred Mirror was kept, and arranged for the enshrinement of Kusanagi (The Sword that Cut the Burning Grass).

Eventually, after the emperor was overthrown, installation of a parliamentary system had taken place, and the castle's grounds were rebuilt into a military base, per the PM's orders (although the shrine was retained), and it had eventually become one of the major land bases, and one of the bastions of the Japanese army during the Britannian invasion.

After their victory, the Britannians had seen no need for such an outdated base to be used for military units, so the fastness of the castle was put to new use: guarding rebellious Elevens, and, if necessary, acting as a holding tank for prisoners destined for execution. Many terrible things had been done in Area Eleven, but this was one of the worst in the eyes of the former Japanese, as after the war, Kusanagi had been stolen and presented to Emperor Charles as tribute, and it was now on display in the Royal Museum in Pendragon.

Lelouch had nodded when he heard all this. "_I _see_. So, you want to restore the spirit of Japan first by defeating the Britannians at the site of their greatest evil in the eyes of the people?_" He smiled. "_Excellent idea, dear sister. I leave it to you then. I will defer to you for the duration of the battle._" He had turned away, but turned back as he went out the door. "_We have them, Cor. They have every chance, but no reason._" His grin turned vulpine. "_We don't have a chance, but we've got _every _reason."_

_Yes, Lelouch, _thought Cornelia,thinking of Euphemia. _Yes, we do._

* * *

_A few hours later._

It was hot beneath the mask, but Cornelia didn't care.

"_My dear friends! Are you prepared to risk your lives for the restoration of Japan?"_

"_YAAAAAH!" _they shouted in answer.

Her voice rang out, modified enough to be unrecognizable, and as hypnotizing as Zero's.

She was Infinity, the inverse of Zero, and yet, the closest to Zero…

"_Today we reclaim your comrade-in-arms!"_

A roar rose from the rebels.

"_Today we take back the pride of Japan!"_

Another roar.

"_TODAY INFINITY WILL LEAD YOU!"_

The roar was deafening as the rebels cheered their loudest. Cornelia smiled beneath her mask, and knew Lelouch was smiling, too. There was nothing quite like using mob mentality as your weapon; it was fun, but dangerous too, like teasing an eldritch god, or outrunning an avalanche: you knew that someday, it would get you, but you didn't care.

"_To your Knightmares, soldiers! The Britannian Empire will feel the terror of the Holy Island!"_

_That's right; we're coming for you, Father, you and your tottering old state. I'll make you pay lakes of blood for every drop Nunnally's ever shed, and for every drop Euphemia's ever shed – I'll make you pay oceans._

She felt her lips curve into the iron smile that she always got under pressure; the old excitement was starting again.

_It's time to break some _rules_._

* * *

Lelouch lowered the binoculars and turned. "Well, Infinity? What do you make of the situation?"

She shook her head slightly. "It's worse that I thought…"

He chuckled lightly. "I told you it would be."

Her answer was pleasant despite his mocking tone. "Ah, but it's still well within my calculations. I assume we have the shot?"

"Yes, we do. Where do you intend to position the snipers?"

Cornelia looked over the mountainous landscape. It was ideal for guerilla tactics, and she indulged herself briefly in a vain wish that they _could_ perform a guerilla campaign…

But no. A guerilla campaign would take far too long, and expend too many resources to be worth the caution it allowed.

No, today they would be storming the enemy by psychology and science, not by force. Carine was the commander here, and she was no slouch when it came to military tactics. She had been second-best compared to Lelouch and Cornelia (something that had caused her no end of annoyance), but she didn't need to be better than they were when she had such an overwhelming superiority in force. Easily ten times the Knightmares that the Shinjuku Group had.

But… with knowledge of the individual came knowledge of their particular weaknesses. That was something that Carine was not good at; she was excellent at using her troops to the fullest potential (although the only way she kept discipline was through fear), but she was poorly equipped for responding to others' behavioral prompts, given her sociopathic nature.

So although Carine could not respond in kind to Lelouch and Cornelia's unique militaristic tics, they could respond to hers, which would no doubt drive her up the wall. It would seem like they were reading her mind (even though they would be forcing her hand at every turn), and while she was an excellent commander, her temper was one of the worst in Britannia. Her Guren Mk. I would become a terror as she got angrier, but if she was teased enough, she would eventually make a fatal mistake out of sheer rage, disabling her Guren, and enabling the reserve retrieval force to make pickup on Kōzuki, as well as enabling Lelouch to question her about the death of Marianne.

The only problem with the plan was that it depended heavily on several factors – which, while available to them, were very uncertain as to their success, as well as their dependence on the skill of a single pilot.

And the crucial role of distractor had not yet been filled.

"The snipers are not my first concern, Zero."

"Aren't they? And after all the effort I went to for those bullets!"

Cornelia grimaced, realized Lelouch couldn't see it, and scoffed as a replacement. "You know what I mean. The snipers will be useless without the distractor!"

She could almost hear his smirk from inside his mask. "I believe your answer lies with the one setting up the dummies with record speed."

He pointed, and Cornelia swung the binoculars over, to rest on the Sutherland currently blitzing past its fellows, setting up as many salvaged Knightmare skeletons again as each of her comrades did.

Cornelia lowered the binoculars, and let out a low whistle. "My. She's the best Knightmare pilot I've _ever_ seen. And she's native Japanese, you say?"

Lelouch laughed. "Not quite. The name that she uses with us, Kallen Kōzuki, is only half-true."

"And why's that?"

Lelouch leaned in closer, and whispered: "Because she attends Ashford Academy, under the guise of Kallen Stadtfeld. She's only half-Japanese – although she clearly feels that it's the more important half."

Cornelia was only shocked for a moment. "Well. Well, I can't say that that's the only case of a half-Britannian I've seen, but for her to be better than full-bloods, and by such a degree!" She shook her head. "She's not acknowledged by her father, I suppose?"

"We-ell, that's a little bit of a touchy subject, I'd imagine. From the information I've been able to gather, her father fell in love with her birth mother when he attended Tokyo University for an architectural degree, and he married her. Unfortunately for them, however, his family was less than pleased that he'd made such a disagreeable match, and refused to acknowledge their son's matrimony. Even worse, when Britannia conquered Japan, as his wife was Japanese, they would have been left destitute, so he asked his family to acknowledge him again, and the only way they would do so was if he married a woman of their choice. Kallen's mother is now a sort of glorified maid-of-all-work, I think, and his official wife hates her to a degree we can only imagine. She doesn't like Kallen at all, either, but as long as Lord Stadtfeld is alive, there's nothing she can do to her."

Cornelia sighed. "Well, family drama aside, are you certain she can pilot the modified Glasgow?"

"Yes, of course. She was its original pilot – before that factory owner modified it for me, of course." He snickered again. "I must say, he was only too willing to do that and make the bullets after I offered him some motive."

Cornelia took this to mean that the owner had been Geassed into performing. "Do you think we can use him later?"

"It's possible, but probably no. The activity was no doubt noticed, especially due to the rigmarole of making the bullets. The stuff to make them was hard enough to obtain on its own, let alone the difficulty of making them into bullets. I'm glad I have a genius scientist as a classmate who owes me some favors… How many snipers do we have, by the way?"

Cornelia faced the field. "Well, we have ten in the slaughter pen – that's where I'll be stationed, I can protect them, and most of the Sutherlands to some degree – but the most important factor will still be the Glasgow. Oh yes, and if you want to question Carine, the only opportunity you'll have will be on the battlefield. I'll be taking the shot at the Guren, so as long as it's within range, I should be able to disable it, but you'll only have a short window, because we'll have to be gone with Naoto as quickly as possible to avoid pursuit."

Lelouch's voice dropped to a growl. "Don't worry. It won't take long."

Infinity's voice sharpened. "One thing: Do _not _kill Carine. We can't afford a new viceroy here; Guinevere is certainly not up to the task of governing Area Eleven alone, and will request help. Better the known quantity than the unknown."

Lelouch sighed. "Yes, yes, of course. She'll make it out alive." His voice darkened. "This time…"

Cornelia nodded. "That's all we need. I'm going to talk to… Kallen, was it? I'm sure she'll appreciate some action…"

* * *

Kallen leaned back in her seat, and breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Thank goodness, the dummies were all up. She was amazed that they had managed to acquire this many for the operation; it doubled their force's "apparent" size… although she still wasn't sure how that would help, as Carine was widely renowned as the least caring military commander in Britannia, and wouldn't hesitate to drive her soldiers into any situation, no matter how bad.

_That's probably why _I'm _not in command of this battle, and Infinity is… _She breathed a somewhat louder sigh of relief at that. She was a terrible commander; her brother was much better. Even Ohgi could outmaneuver her, and that was saying something.

_My brother_… At his name she felt a mix of guilt, anger, and hope; she had let him get captured, but now she was going to rescue him! Right?

_Well… we'll see._ She wasn't sure yet whether she completely trusted Infinity as a commander; Zero, now…

_Zero! _His very name was mysterious, and intoxicating. He was the leader her brother never had been; he was the shining standard of the glory of Japan! She admired him with a devotion bordering on worship; he had used this tiny force of Japanese rebels to deal humiliating and relatively casualty-free (at least on his side) defeats to the Britannians, and Kallen believed in him wholeheartedly, even if Tamaki grumbled off to the side about "awfully convenient".

All that aside, it was time to let Infinity strut her stuff; if she could pull this off, Kallen knew she would lose all doubts as to her ability, and follow her with almost – but not quite – the same fervor as Zero.

Speaking of Infinity – Kallen's Sutherland stood to attention as Infinity walked up.

"At ease, J-1. Come out, I need to talk with you."

Kallen did so, wondering what Infinity wanted.

"I'll cut to the point, J-1. I saw you piloting the Sutherland, and you're one of the best pilots I've ever seen."

Kallen blushed with pride. _Eat it, Tamaki! I own you! _she thought vindictively.

"That skill shouldn't go to waste, so I'm putting you on a special assignment. Would you like to hear what it is?"

Kallen saluted. "Yes, ma'am!"

Infinity laughed. "I can't fault your enthusiasm, but you might lose a little after you hear what the assignment is…"

"All right, ma'am. Correct me if I get any of this wrong. So – you want me to go back in the Glasgow, which has had its weapons removed for the sake of speed, and divert Carine – who will be in an experimental Knightmare – and lead her back here, so she can be disabled, to allow Zero to form up near the execution yard. All of this must, of course, be done without coming within ten feet of her, as that will ensure my death, due to the Radiant Wave Surger installed in her Knightmare's left hand."

Infinity nodded, and Kallen could hear a little bit of a smirk in her voice as she replied: "Correct, except that the Guren Mk. I – which is the experimental's name – is a lot more agile than the Glasgow, although it will lose in terms of sheer speed. So you'll have to have very fast reactions to come out of this alive. Still want to do it?"

Kallen smiled wolfishly. "Do I ever! Let's go!"

Infinity let out a shout of laughter. "Of course! I knew you would want to!" She shook her head. "I think you'll be an excellent soldier. So, let me show the route you need to take…"

By the time Infinity had finished explaining everything, Kallen was even more excited.

_This is going to be the most fun I've ever had!_

She bared her teeth and growled at Sarubami's bulk.

_Come and get me, Carine! I've got you in my sights! Let's see if you're as good a pilot as you are a tyrant!_

_I'm coming, Naoto!_

* * *

Lelouch was very glad he had ensured that his mask was ventilated, because otherwise, he would be sweating a _lot_.

He took out his pocket watch, and flipped open the golden face. There was a little more than an hour till the scheduled attack time.

They were to attack exactly two hours before Naoto's execution at ten P.M., because that would catch Carine between the scheduled time, and unwillingness to back down by sending him inside, so he would not be rescued.

He snapped the watch closed again, and thought, _Let's review._

_So._

_Our purpose here today is twofold: one, to rescue Naoto Kōzuki, and two, to expose Carine ne Britannia to allow for me to question her about Mother's death._

_Unfortunately, our force is far too small to really even scratch the surface of Carine's guard and the prison guard combined; around 100 Knightmares all told. We have 14._

_So we _don't_ take them on; we let them take _us _on – on ground we choose, because our "hot" dummies will hold them off long enough to take the choke points. Fortunately, Carine is proactive enough to ensure she will come after us, even though she'll see through the dummies.._

_There we'll have a few surprises for Carine's forces. The choke points all told will probably not be held without at least 5 or 6 casualties, but they are naturally defensible enough to ensure no back attacks. _

_At that point, her forces will have learned enough not to go into the forest. If she was still in command, Carine likely would have, by then, ordered long-range explosives specialists to eradicate our forces, so as to avoid senselessly eliminating her own. Unfortunately for her men, a Knightmare she can't kill, but one that looks crucial to our plans will be distracting her at that point, and leading her into our slaughter pen._

_There she will encounter several difficulties, due to the traps, but she won't be able to counter effectively, given that Cornelia will be, rather than stopping her bullets, deflecting her bullets towards ground prematurely with her Ultimate Protection. She will fall eventually, and that's my window. _He ground his teeth. _That's when we'll be finding out what Miss Carine had to do with my mother's assassination. As soon as we're done, and Cornelia has retrieved Naoko, we're home free._

He shook his head. _Couldn't have done it better myself, Cornelia._

_Let's dance, shall we, Carine?_

* * *

_One hour later._

Lelouch's radio crackled to life.

"Z – o? C – me in, Ze – o! This –s J-1!"

He leaned in to the receiver. "Your frequency is a little off, J-1."

"Oh, al – ight. Le – me jus –" He heard some fiddling with the dial. "There! How's that?"

"Excellent, J-1. Are you in position?"

"Yes. I also – "

"Stop. This channel is unsecured, so I don't want to talk too much. Did you carry out my addition to the plan as well?"

"Yes! I – "

"Shh. Later, J-1, if we get out of this alive."

"Yessir."

"Good luck, J-1. Zero out."

The radio's crackling stopped, only to spring up again.

"Lel – I mean, Zero, what was that about an addition?"

He smiled grimly. "Don't worry, Infinity. Just some security in case something goes wrong."

A static-laced sigh emerged from the receiver. "Does this have anything to do with those sessions with Sayoko?"

"Don't ask me on this channel, all right? They could have us tapped."

"All right." The voice paused a moment, and then emerged more cautiously, "There hasn't been a sighting of Lancelot, has there."

"Most fortunately, no. Carine refused to allow him anywhere near her fighting force; seems she thinks he's a threat."

"How do you know that?"

Lelouch grimaced. "I have an informer. Don't ask me about that either. Milly introduced – well, never mind."

"Okay, if you insist." There was a rustle. "It's eight o' clock. Ready?"

"Yes. Give the order any time you feel like, all circuits."

"Get ready to roll." The radio switched off again, as Cornelia put on her helmet and switched circuits.

Lelouch briefly thanked his lucky stars for Nina's connections. _Remind me to do something nice for you, Nina… because if we win this battle, it's all thanks to you._

* * *

Nina Einstein sighed, and put the finishing touches on her essay. _Why do I even need to do this? I know the story by heart anyway…_

Her science teacher had assigned her an easy topic, though no doubt he thought it would prove a terrible poser for her. "The History and Usage of Sakuradite." Heh.

Her grades in science were nonexistent, because Mr. Gottfried was convinced that she was cheating. It was only through Principal Ashford's influence that she was still in school, let alone getting an A in science.

She smiled contentedly. While she didn't excel in many subjects (or interactions in the social arena), she felt herself god-like in the field of science, far above Mr. Gottfried's petty powers of denying her good grades, because she corrected his tests when she took them, and finished them in less than an eighth of the time it took everyone else.

Lelouch – well, he was the only one who seemed to understand. He had talked to her about Sakuradite, and he had seemed genuinely interested, even when she had talked about its diamagnetism. That had been the point at which even tolerant Milly had begged off. She had talked for hours, and he hadn't even fallen asleep once.

So it wasn't a big favor, really, when she got him those excess materials from the Sakuradite study. He still talked to her, even when he got the materials to test Sakuradite's properties for himself, and he had even brought Nunnally a few times! Nina could tell she hadn't really been interested, but she was just glad that Euphemia was willing to feign it for her sake.

Although she did wonder what he was testing. Diamagnetism? Ways to defeat Sakuraditic electronics? Maybe it wasn't entirely legal; why else would he have wanted all that –

BANG.

Her door flew open, and she jumped, then looked up with annoyance at the intruder.

"Shirley? What do you need? I'm a bit busy right now, as you can see."

Shirley frowned at Nina. "You don't need to be so mean, Nina."

Nina sighed. "Well, I guess that was a little uncalled for. But really, what do you need? I've got to finish this, because I still have to finish the final report for the fissionable materials study."

"Well, I – fissionable materials study?"

"I can't really tell you any more than I already have."

Shirley looked nonplussed. "Ooo-kay… anyway, do you have any idea where Lelouch is? I wouldn't ask, but you've been spending so much time with him lately…"

Nina felt self-conscious at this, and was sure she showed it. "No, I'm afraid I don't. I suppose he must be out with Miss Cornelia. He's her best student, and she's having a field trip, so maybe she wanted him as a lackey while she scouts out the area."

Shirley looked a little anxious at this announcement. "Oh… I hope they're OK…"

Nina was surprised. "Not jealous?"

Shirley shook her head vaguely. "No… no… I-I'll see you later, Nina."

Nina, glad that the exchange was over, waved to Shirley, and settled back down to work. But she was a little worried, now, about Lelouch.

_What's he doing with Miss Cornelia? _A rather unpleasant thought occurred to her.

_I hope I don't lose my only conversation partner…_

* * *

_Chapter 6 – Machinations_

_Consumo._

Author's Note: Well, we're back to real time, and I'm struggling with military strategy… I hope you guys don't think it seems too trumped up…

Anyway, I've hammered out the details as to several characters' Geasses, and it's looking pretty cool. Look forward to the coming days.

Oh yes, Suzaku will NOT be in this battle chapter. I just couldn't think of a way to fit him in without smashing all of Cornelia's best-laid plans completely, so, because of Carine's prejudice and my incompetence with battle strategy, he'll sit this one out. He'll start appearing more once the Shinjuku Group (or the Black Knights, as they will soon be called) gets backing – as well as Burais, the Guren Mk. II, and Rakshata – from the Kyoto Group, which will be touched off by this successful battle.

The romance section is looking… well… to put it in one word, _convoluted_. I really don't like stories with unnecessary pairings, but I want a _lot _ of pairings, and while I've got the baseline at least for most of the main romances, the side characters are going to be difficult to deal with. If anyone has any tips for writing romance into stories, I would really appreciate some.

As always, thanks to Mr. xchrispx510 for his beta reading, and I'll see you again on the eve of battle! Live long and prosper!


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